Impact of Phonon-Magnon Scattering on Thermal Transport across Antiferromagnetic and Ferromagnetic Oxides
Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: Phonon--magnon coupling has been extensively studied in ferromagnets, whereas its microscopic mechanisms in antiferromagnets remain less understood. Here, we combine first-principles calculations with spin--lattice dynamics to investigate phonon--magnon interactions and their impact on thermal transport in antiferromagnetic NiO and MnO, which are put in contrast to the ferromagnetic EuO with an identical crystal structure. Green--Kubo and spectral energy density analyses show that spin dynamics reduce phonon thermal conductivity and lifetimes, with the strongest effects in MnO. Comparison of the excitation spectra indicates that spin-induced phonon scattering depends sensitively on the relative phonon and magnon energy scales, while the contrasting behavior of MnO and EuO further highlights the role of magnetic order. A simplified phase-space model further illustrates that, for comparable phonon and magnon energy scales, the antiferromagnetic case can support a larger phonon--magnon scattering phase space than the ferromagnetic case, suggesting a greater number of kinematically allowed scattering channels. These results identify excitation energy scales and magnetic order as key factors governing phonon--magnon scattering in magnetic materials.
Source: arXiv (Cornell University)
Authors: Xiang, Zeyu, Liao, Bolin
Institution: University of California, Santa Barbara
Language: English
Subfield: Materials Chemistry
Field: Materials Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
Awards: G1453181110, Track 4: Advanced CI Coordination Ecosystem: Monitoring and Measurement Services, G3562386289, Track 1: ACCESS Resource Allocations Marketplace and Platform Services (RAMPS), G4010157413, G4092539912, ACO: An Open CI Ecosystem to Advance Scientific Discovery (OpenCI), Track 3: COre National Ecosystem for CyberinfrasTructure (CONECT), G5367127336, G5464919783, Track 2: Customized Multi-tier Assistance, Training, and Computational Help (MATCH) for End User ACCESS to CI
OpenAlex ID: W7214765245