Magnetic Signature of Chiral Phonons Revealed by Neutron Spectroscopy in Ferrimagnetic Fe${}_{1.75}$Zn${}_{0.25}$Mo${}_3$O${}_8$

Abstract

Lattice vibrations can carry angular momentum and magnetic moments under broken inversion or time-reversal symmetry, forming so-called chiral phonons. While such excitations have been explored in nonmagnetic systems via optical probes, their direct detection in magnetic materials and coupling to spin excitations remain largely unexplored. Here, using neutron spectroscopy, sensitive to both nuclear and magnetic scattering, we reveal the magnetic signature of chiral phonons in ferrimagnetic Fe${}_{1.75}$Zn${}_{0.25}$Mo${}_3$O${}_8$ with Curie temperature $T_{\mathrm{C}}\sim 49$ K. Below $T_{\mathrm{C}}$, we observe enhanced magnetic scattering of phonons at small momenta, arising from strong magnon-phonon coupling. In addition, out-of-plane intensity modulation, phonon mode splitting, and field-induced Zeeman shifts are observed, all closely associated with the ferrimagnetic order. These features vanish above $T_{\mathrm{C}}$, where phonon spectra are dominated by nuclear scattering. These observations demonstrate the existence of chiral phonons carrying substantial magnetic moments that directly contribute to magnetic scattering, and establish neutron spectroscopy as a powerful, momentum-resolved probe of their magnetic character.

Published in PRL as Editors' Suggestion and Featured in Physics

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Cited by in corpus (1)

• Inelastic Neutron Scattering for Direct Detection of Chiral Phonons