Complex Temperature-dependent Thermal Conductivity in a Sawtooth Chain Magnet Fe${}_2$SiSe${}_4$

Abstract

Geometrically frustrated magnets provide an ideal platform for exploring the interplay between lattice geometry and spin degrees of freedom. Here, we investigate the interactions between lattice and spin via thermal-transport measurements on the triangular sawtooth-lattice olivine magnet Fe${}_2$SiSe${}_4$, which exhibits successive magnetic transitions at $T_1=110$ K (antiferromagnetic) and $T_2=50$ K (ferrimagnetic). Although phonons dominate the thermal conductivity, its temperature dependence displays a pronounced double-peak structure arising from spin-phonon coupling. In the intermediate temperature range between $T_1$ and $T_2$ , resonant scattering of phonons by magnetic excitations around 5 meV produces a broad maximum around 60 K. Below $T_2$, the resonant spin-phonon scattering is strongly suppressed, leading to a rapid increase in thermal conductivity upon cooling and a pronounced low-temperature peak near 11 K, characteristic of heat transport governed by conventional phonon scattering mechanisms. Notably, this low-temperature peak is enhanced by a factor of $\sim 5$ compared to the broad maximum at higher temperatures. These results demonstrate the strong sensitivity of thermal transport to spin-lattice interactions and highlight spin-phonon scattering as an effective mechanism for tailoring thermal conductivity in geometrically frustrated magnets.

10 pages, 3 figures

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