No Arabic abstract
We investigate the magnetic excitations in view of the recent reports suggesting that the spin-wave energy may exhibit a significant dependence on the in-plane strain of a thin film of La$_2$CuO$_4$. The nature of dependence, as we find, can be explained naturally within a two-orbital model based on the $d_{x^2-y^2}$ and $d_{3z^2-r^2}$ orbitals. In particular, as the orbital-splitting energy between the $d_{x^2-y^2}$ and $d_{3z^2-r^2}$ orbitals increases with compressive strain, the zone-boundary spin-wave energy hardens. However, the hardening persists only until the orbital splitting reaches $sim$ 2eV, beyond which there is no significant change. The behavior of zone-boundary spin-wave energy is explained in terms of the extent of hybridization between one of the exchange-split $d_{x^2-y^2}$ band which is nearly half filled and the $d_{3z^2-r^2}$ band. The role of second-order antiferromagnetic superexchange process involving the inter-orbital hopping is also discussed.
A recent observation of thermal Hall effect of magnetic origin in underdoped cuprates calls for critical re-examination of low-energy magnetic dynamics in undoped antiferromagnetic compound on square lattice, where traditional, renormalized spin-wave theory was believed to work well. Using Holstein-Primakoff boson formalism, we find that magnon-based theories can lead to finite Berry curvature in the magnon band once the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya spin interaction is taken into account explicitly, but fail to produce non-zero thermal Hall conductivity. Assuming accidental doping by impurities and magnon scattering off of such impurity sites fails to predict skew scattering at the level of Born approximation. Local formation of skyrmion defects is also found incapable of generating magnon thermal Hall effect. Turning to spinon-based scenario, we write down a simple model by adding spin-dependent diagonal hopping to the well-known {pi}-flux model of spinons. The resulting two-band model has Chern number in the band structure, and generates thermal Hall conductivity whose magnetic field and temperature dependences mimic closely the observed thermal Hall signals. In disclaimer, there is no firm microscopic basis of this model and we do not claim to have found an explanation of the data, but given the unexpected nature of the experimental observation, it is hoped this work could serve as a first step towards reaching some level of understanding.
Using low-energy projection of the one-band t-t-t-Hubbard model we derive an effective spin-Hamiltonian and its spin-wave expansion to order 1/S. We fit the spin-wave dispersion of several parent compounds to the high-temperature superconducting cuprates: La2CuO4, Sr2CuO2Cl2 and Bi2Sr2YCu2O8. Our accurate quantitative determination of the one-band Hubbard model parameters allows prediction and comparison to experimental results of measurable quantities such as staggered moment, double occupancy density, spin-wave velocity and bimagnon excitation spectrum and density of states, which is discussed in relation to K-edge RIXS and Raman experiments.
Thin films of the ferromagnetic metal SrRuO3 (SRO) show a varying easy magnetization axis depending on the epitaxial strain and undergo a metal-to-insulator transition with decreasing film thickness. We have investigated the magnetic properties of SRO thin films with varying thicknesses fabricated on SrTiO3(001) substrates by soft x-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) at the Ru M2,3 edge. Results have shown that, with decreasing film thickness, the film changes from ferromagnetic to non-magnetic around 3monolayer thickness, consistent with previous magnetization and magneto-optical Kerr effect measurements. The orbital magnetic moment perpendicular to the film was found to be ~ 0.1{mu}B/Ru atom, and remained nearly unchanged with decreasing film thickness while the spin magnetic moment decreases. Mechanism for the formation of the orbital magnetic moment is discussed based on the electronic structure of the compressively strained SRO film.
We study the effect of uniform uniaxial strain on the ground state electronic configuration of a thin film manganite. Our model Hamiltonian includes the double-exchange, the Jahn-Teller electron-lattice coupling, and the antiferromagnetic superexchange. The strain arises due to the lattice mismatch between an insulating substrate and a manganite which produces a tetragonal distortion. This is included in the model via a modification of the hopping amplitude and the introduction of an energy splitting between the Mn e_g levels. We analyze the bulk properties of half-doped manganites and the electronic reconstruction at the interface between a ferromagnetic and metallic manganite and the insulating substrate. The strain drives an orbital selection modifying the electronic properties and the magnetic ordering of manganites and their interfaces.
We study the magnetic excitations of undoped iron oxypnictides using a three-dimensional Heisenberg model with single-ion anisotropy. Analytic forms of the spin wave dispersion, velocities, and structure factor are given. Aside from quantitative comparisons which can be made to inelastic neutron scattering experiments, we also give qualitative criteria which can distinguish various regimes of coupling strength. The magnetization reduction due to quantum zero point fluctuations shows clear dependence on the c-axis coupling.