arXiv subjects

S. A. Owerre

Publications and source records attributed to S. A. Owerre.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2020

Topological transitions of spin-excitations in insulating chiral antiferromagnets

We present a comprehensive study of strain-induced topological magnon phase transitions in insulating three-dimensional (3D) topological chiral antiferromagnets on the kagome-lattice. We show that by applying (100) uniaxial strain, 3D insulating antiferromagnetic Weyl magnons (WMs) manifest as an intermediate phase between a strain-induced 3D magnon Chern insulator (MCI) with integer Chern numbers and a 3D trivial magnon insulator with zero Chern number. In addition, we show that strain suppresses the topological thermal Hall conductivity of magnons in these systems. Due to the similarity between 3D insulating and metallic kagome chiral antiferromagnets, we envision that the current results could also manifest in the 3D antiferromagnetic topological Weyl semimetals Mn$_3$Sn\slash Ge.

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arXiv2019

Photoinduced Floquet topological magnons in Kitaev magnets

We study periodically driven pure Kitaev model and ferromagnetic phase of the Kitaev-Heisenberg model on the honeycomb lattice by off-resonant linearly and circularly-polarized lights at zero magnetic field. Using a combination of linear spin wave and Floquet theories, we show that the effective time-independent Hamiltonians in the off-resonant regime map onto the corresponding anisotropic static spin model, plus a tunable photoinduced magnetic field along the $[111]$ direction, which precipitates Floquet topological magnons and chiral magnon edge modes. They are tunable by the light amplitude and polarization. Similarly, we show that the thermal Hall effect induced by the Berry curvature of the Floquet topological magnons can also be tuned by the laser field. Our results pave the way for ultrafast manipulation of topological magnons in irradiated Kitaev magnets, and could play a pivotal role in the investigation of ultrafast magnon spin current generation in Kitaev materials.

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arXiv2019

Photo-induced Floquet Weyl magnons in noncollinear antiferromagnets

We study periodically driven insulating noncollinear stacked kagome antiferromagnets with a conventional symmetry-protected three-dimensional (3D) in-plane $120^\circ$ spin structure, with either positive or negative vector chirality. We show that the symmetry protection of the in-plane $120^\circ$ spin structure can be broken in the presence of an off-resonant circularly or linearly polarized electric field propagating parallel to the in-plane $120^\circ$ spin structure (say along the $x$ direction). Consequently, topological Floquet Weyl magnon nodes with opposite chirality are photoinduced along the $k_x$ momentum direction. They manifest as the monopoles of the photoinduced Berry curvature. We also show that the system exhibits a photoinduced magnon thermal Hall effect for circularly polarized electric field. Furthermore, we show that the photoinduced chiral spin structure is a canted 3D in-plane $120^\circ$ spin structure, which was recently observed in the equilibrium noncollinear antiferromagnetic Weyl semimetals Mn$_3$Sn\slash Ge. Our result not only paves the way towards the experimental realization of Weyl magnons and photoinduced thermal Hall effects, but also provides a powerful mechanism for manipulating the intrinsic properties of 3D topological antiferromagnets.

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arXiv2019

Magnonic Floquet Quantum Spin Hall Insulator in Bilayer Collinear Antiferromagnets

We study irradiated two-dimensional insulating bilayer honeycomb ferromagnets and antiferromagnets coupled antiferromagnetically with a zero net magnetization. The former is realized in the recently synthesized bilayer honeycomb chromium triiodide CrI$_{\bf 3}$. In both systems, we show that circularly-polarized electric field breaks time-reversal symmetry and induces a dynamical Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction in each honeycomb layer. However, the resulting bilayer antiferromagnetic system still preserves a combination of time-reversal and space-inversion ($\mathcal{PT}$) symmetry. We show that the magnon topology of the bilayer antiferromagnetic system is characterized by a $\pmb{\mathbb{Z}_2}$ Floquet topological invariant. Therefore, the system realizes a magnonic Floquet quantum spin Hall insulator with spin filtered magnon edge states. This leads to a non-vanishing Floquet magnon spin Nernst effect, whereas the Floquet magnon thermal Hall effect vanishes due to $\mathcal{PT}$ symmetry. We study the rich $\pmb{\mathbb{Z}_2}$ Floquet topological magnon phase diagram of the system as a function of the light amplitudes and polarizations. We further discuss the great impact of the results on future experimental realizations.

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arXiv2019

Laser-Irradiated CrI$_3$: When Chiral Photons Meet Topological Magnons

Insulating honeycomb ferromagnet CrI$_3$ has recently attracted considerable attention due to its potential use for dissipationless spintronics applications. Recently, topological spin excitations have been observed experimentally in bulk CrI$_3$ by L. Chen, et al. [Phys. Rev. X ${\bf 8}$, 041028 (2018)] using inelastic neutron scattering. This suggest that bulk CrI$_3$ has strong spin-orbit coupling and its spin Hamiltonian should include a next-nearest neighbour Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya (DM) interaction. Inspired by this experiment, we study non-equilibrium emergent photon-dressed topological spin and thermal Hall transports in laser-irradiated CrI$_3$ with and without the DM interaction. We show that the spin excitations can be manipulated into different topological phases with different Chern numbers. Most importantly, we show that the emergent photon-dressed spin and thermal Hall response can be switched to different signs. Hence, the generated magnon spin photocurrents can be manipulated by the laser field, which is of great interest in ultrafast spin current generation and could pave the way for future applications of CrI$_3$ to topological opto-spintronics and opto-magnonics.

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arXiv2019

Topological magnon nodal-lines and absence of magnon spin Nernst effect in layered collinear antiferromagnets

We propose the existence of a symmetry-protected topological Dirac nodal line (DNL) magnonic phase in layered honeycomb collinear antiferromagnets even in the presence of spin-orbit Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction. We show that the magnon spin Nernst effect, predicted to occur in strictly two-dimensional (2D) honeycomb collinear antiferromagnets cancels out in the layered honeycomb collinear antiferromagnets. In other words, the magnon spin Nernst effect in each 2D antiferromagnetic layer cancels out the succeeding layer. Hence, the Berry curvature vanish in the entire Brillouin zone due to the combination of time-reversal and space-inversion ($\mathcal{PT}$) symmetry. However, upon symmetry breaking by an external magnetic field, we show that a non-vanishing Berry curvature and Chern number protected topological magnon bands are induced in the non-collinear spin structure. This leads to an experimentally accessible magnon thermal Hall effect in the $\mathcal{PT}$ symmetry-broken topological DNL magnonic phase of layered honeycomb antiferromagnets. We propose that the current predicted results can be experimentally investigated in the layered honeycomb antiferromagnets CaMn$_2$Sb$_2$, BaNi$_2$V$_2$O$_8$, and Bi$_3$Mn$_4$O$_{12}$(NO$_3$).

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arXiv2018

Photoinduced Topological Phase Transitions in Topological Magnon Insulators

Topological magnon insulators are the bosonic analogs of electronic topological insulators. They are manifested in magnetic materials with topologically nontrivial magnon bands as realized experimentally in a quasi-two-dimensional (quasi-2D) kagome ferromagnet Cu(1-3, bdc), and they also possess protected magnon edge modes. These topological magnetic materials can transport heat as well as spin currents, hence they can be useful for spintronic applications. Moreover, as magnons are charge-neutral spin-${\bf 1}$ bosonic quasiparticles with a magnetic dipole moment, topological magnon materials can also interact with electromagnetic fields through the Aharonov-Casher effect. In this report, we study photoinduced topological phase transitions in intrinsic topological magnon insulators in the kagomé ferromagnets. Using magnonic Floquet-Bloch theory, we show that by varying the light intensity, periodically driven intrinsic topological magnetic materials can be manipulated into different topological phases with different sign of the Berry curvatures and the thermal Hall conductivity. We further show that, under certain conditions, periodically driven gapped topological magnon insulators can also be tuned to synthetic gapless topological magnon semimetals with Dirac-Weyl magnon cones. We envision that this work will pave the way for interesting new potential practical applications in topological magnetic materials

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arXiv2018

Floquet Weyl Magnons

In three-dimensional (3D) quantum magnets, magnonic Weyl points (WPs) featuring linear band crossing of two non-degenerate magnon branches can emerge in certain lattice geometry when time-reversal symmetry is broken macroscopically. Unfortunately, there are very limited 3D quantum magnets that host magnonic WPs, and they are yet to be observed experimentally because the intrinsic perturbative interactions that break time-reversal symmetry macroscopically can be very negligible. Here, we present an alternative means via photo-irradiation, in which magnonic WPs can emerge in 3D quantum magnets without relying on intrinsic perturbative interactions to break time-reversal symmetry. By utilizing the magnonic Floquet-Bloch theory, we put forward the general theory of magnonic Floquet WPs in 3D quantum magnets. We show that periodically driven 3D magnonic Dirac nodal-line (DNL) and 3D magnonic gapped trivial insulators can generate 3D magnonic Floquet WPs, which can be tuned by the incident circularly-polarized light. We demonstrate the existence of magnonic Floquet WPs by combining the study of the magnon dispersions, Berry curvatures, and the anomalous thermal Hall effect. The general theoretical formalism can be applied to different magnetic insulators, and thus extending the concept of magnonic WPs to a broader class of 3D magnetically ordered systems.

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arXiv2018

Topological Magnetic Excitations on the Distorted Kagome Antiferromagnets: Applications to Volborthite, Vesignieite, and Edwardsite

In this Letter, we identify a noncoplanar chiral spin texture on the distorted kagomé-lattice antiferromagnets induced by the presence of a magnetic field applied perpendicular to the distorted kagomé plane. The noncoplanar chiral spin texture has a nonzero scalar spin chirality similar to a chiral quantum spin liquid with broken time-reversal symmetry. In the noncoplanar regime we observe nontrivial topological magnetic excitations and thermal Hall response through the emergent field-induced scalar spin chirality in contrast to collinear ferromagnets in which the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya (DM) spin-orbit interaction is the driving force. Our results shed light on recent observation of thermal Hall conductivity in distorted kagomé volborthite at nonzero magnetic field with no signal of DM spin-orbit interaction, and the results also apply to other distorted kagomé antiferromagnets such as vesignieite and edwardsite.

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arXiv2018

Floquet Topological Magnons

We introduce the concept of Floquet topological magnons --- a mechanism by which a synthetic tunable Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI) can be generated in quantum magnets using circularly polarized electric (laser) field. The resulting effect is that Dirac magnons and nodal magnons in two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) quantum magnets can be tuned to magnon Chern insulators and Weyl magnons respectively under circularly polarized laser field. The Floquet formalism also yields a tunable intrinsic DMI in insulating quantum magnets without an inversion center. We demonstrate that the Floquet topological magnons possess a finite thermal Hall conductivity tunable by the laser field.

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arXiv2018

Photoinduced topologically trivial magnons with finite thermal Hall effect

In two-dimensional (2D) insulating magnets, the thermal Hall effect of magnons is believed to be a consequence of topological magnon insulator with separated magnon bands and a well-defined Chern number. Due to broken time-reversal symmetry the thermal Hall effect vanishes in Dirac magnons. In this paper, we show that periodically driven semi-Dirac magnon in 2D insulating honeycomb ferromagnet results in a photoinduced Dirac magnon at the topological phase transition between a photoinduced topological and trivial magnon insulator. Remarkably, the photoinduced Dirac magnon and the photoinduced trivial magnon insulator possess a nonzero Berry curvature and exhibit a finite thermal Hall effect. These intriguing properties of periodically driven 2D insulating magnets originate from the bosonic nature of magnons. Hence, they are not expected to exist in 2D electronic Floquet systems.

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arXiv2018

Magnonic Floquet Hofstadter Butterfly

We introduce the magnonic Floquet Hofstadter butterfly in the two-dimensional insulating honeycomb ferromagnet. We show that when the insulating honeycomb ferromagnet is irradiated by an oscillating space- and time-dependent electric field, the hopping magnetic dipole moment (i.e. magnon quasiparticles) accumulate the Aharonov-Casher phase. In the case of only space-dependent electric field, we realize the magnonic Hofstadter spectrum with similar fractal structure as graphene subject to a perpendicular magnetic field, but with no spin degeneracy due to broken time-reversal symmetry by the ferromagnetic order. In addition, the magnonic Dirac points and Landau levels occur at finite energy as expected in a bosonic system. Remarkably, this discrepancy does not affect the topological invariant of the system. Consequently, the magnonic Chern number assumes odd values and the magnon Hall conductance gets quantized by odd integers. In the case of both space- and time-dependent electric field, the theoretical framework is studied by the Floquet formalism. We show that the magnonic Floquet Hofstadter spectrum emerges entirely from the oscillating space- and time-dependent electric field, which is in stark contrast to electronic Floquet Hofstadter spectrum, where irradiation by circularly polarized light and a perpendicular magnetic field are applied independently. We study the deformation of the fractal structure at different laser frequencies and amplitudes, and analyze the topological phase transitions associated with gap openings in the magnonic Floquet Hofstadter butterfly.

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arXiv2018

Two-dimensional Dirac nodal loop magnons in collinear antiferromagnets

We study the nontrivial linear magnon band crossings in the collinear antiferromagnets on the two-dimensional (2D) CaVO lattice, also realized in some iron-based superconductors such as AFe$_{1.6+x}$Se$_2$ (A = K, Rb, Cs). It is shown that the combination of space-inversion and time-reversal symmetry ($\mathcal{PT}$-symmetry) leads to doubly-degenerate eight magnon branches, which cross each other linearly along a one-dimensional loop in the 2D Brillouin zone. We show that the Dirac nodal loops (DNLs) are not present in the collinear ferromagnet on this lattice. Thus, the current 2D antiferromagnetic DNLs are symmetry-protected and they provide a novel platform to search for their analogs in 2D electronic antiferromagnetic systems.

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arXiv2018

Strain-Induced Topological Magnon Phase Transitions: Applications to Kagome-Lattice Ferromagnets

A common feature of topological insulators is that they are characterized by topologically invariant quantity such as the Chern number and the $\mathbb{Z}_2$ index. This quantity distinguishes a nontrivial topological system from a trivial one. A topological phase transition may occur when there are two topologically distinct phases, and it is usually defined by a gap closing point where the topologically invariant quantity is ill-defined. In this paper, we show that the magnon bands in the strained (distorted) kagome-lattice ferromagnets realize an example of a topological magnon phase transition in the realistic parameter regime of the system. When spin-orbit coupling (SOC) is neglected (i.e. no Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction), we show that all three magnon branches are dispersive with no flat band, and there exists a critical point where tilted Dirac and semi-Dirac point coexist in the magnon spectra. The critical point separates two gapless magnon phases as opposed to the usual phase transition. Upon the inclusion of SOC, we realize a topological magnon phase transition point at the critical strain $δ_c=\frac{1}{2}\big[ 1-(D/J)^2\big]$, where $D$ and $J$ denote the perturbative SOC and the Heisenberg spin exchange interaction respectively. It separates two distinct topological magnon phases with different Chern numbers for $δ<δ_c$ and for $δ>δ_c$. The associated anomalous thermal Hall conductivity develops an abrupt change at $δ_c$, due to the divergence of the Berry curvature in momentum space. The proposed topological magnon phase transition is experimentally feasible by applying external perturbations such as uniaxial strain or pressure.

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arXiv2018

Weyl magnons in noncoplanar stacked kagome antiferromagnets

Weyl nodes have been experimentally realized in photonic, electronic, and phononic crystals. However, magnonic Weyl nodes are yet to be seen experimentally. In this paper, we propose Weyl magnon nodes in noncoplanar stacked frustrated kagome antiferromagnets, naturally available in various real materials. Most crucially, the Weyl nodes in the current system occur at the lowest excitation and possess a topological (anomalous) thermal Hall effect, therefore they are experimentally accessible at low temperatures due to the population effect of bosonic quasiparticles. In stark contrast to other magnetic systems, the current Weyl nodes do not rely on time-reversal symmetry breaking by the magnetic order. Rather, they result from explicit macroscopically broken time reversal symmetry by the scalar spin chirality of noncoplanar spin textures, and can be generalized to chiral spin liquid states. Moreover, the scalar spin chirality gives a real space Berry curvature which is not available in previously studied magnetic Weyl systems. We show the existence of magnon arc surface states connecting projected Weyl magnon nodes on the surface Brillouin zone. We also uncover the first realization of triply-degenerate nodal magnon point in the non-collinear regime with zero scalar spin chirality.

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arXiv2018

Magnonic triply-degenerate nodal points

We generalize the concept of triply-degenerate nodal points to non-collinear antiferromagnets. Here, we introduce this concept to insulating quantum antiferromagnets on the decorated honeycomb lattice, with spin-$1$ bosonic quasiparticle excitations known as magnons. We demonstrate the existence of magnonic surface states with constant energy contours that form pairs of magnonic arcs connecting the surface projection of the magnonic triple nodal points. The quasiparticle excitations near the triple nodal points represent three-component bosons beyond that of magnonic Dirac, Weyl, and nodal-line cases. They can be regarded as a direct reflection of the intrinsic spin carried by magnons. Furthermore, we show that the magnonic triple nodal points can split into magnonic Weyl points, as the system transits from a non-collinear spin structure to a noncoplanar one with a nonzero scalar spin chirality. Our results not only apply to insulating antiferromagnets, but also provide a platform to seek for triple nodal points in metallic antiferromagnets.

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arXiv2018

Topological thermal Hall effect due to Weyl magnons

We present the first theoretical evidence of zero magnetic field topological (anomalous) thermal Hall effect due to Weyl magnons. Here, we consider Weyl magnons in stacked noncoplanar frustrated kagomé antiferromagnets recently proposed by Owerre, [arXiv:1708.04240]. The Weyl magnons in this system result from macroscopically broken time-reversal symmetry by the scalar spin chirality of noncoplanar chiral spin textures. Most importantly, they come from the lowest excitation, therefore they can be easily observed experimentally at low temperatures due to the population effect. Similar to electronic Weyl nodes close to the Fermi energy, Weyl magnon nodes in the lowest excitation are the most important. Indeed, we show that the topological (anomalous) thermal Hall effect in this system arises from nonvanishing Berry curvature due to Weyl magnon nodes in the lowest excitation, and it depends on their distribution (distance) in momentum space. The present result paves the way to directly probe low excitation Weyl magnons and macroscopically broken time-reversal symmetry in three-dimensional frustrated magnets with the anomalous thermal Hall effect.

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arXiv2017

Magnonic Analogs of Topological Dirac Semimetals

In electronic topological Dirac semimetals the conduction and valence bands touch at discrete points in the Brillouin zone and form Dirac cones. They are robust against spin-orbit interaction (SOI) and protected by crystal symmetries. They can be driven to different topological phases by breaking the symmetries. In the low-temperature quantum magnetic systems the magnon dispersions have similar band structures as the electron dispersions, but with positive definite energies. In these magnetic systems SOI manifests in the form of the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI). In this Communication, we identify two types of {\it magnonic Dirac semimetals} in quasi-two-dimensional quantum magnets. The first type is a consequence of topological phase transition between trivial and topological magnon insulators and the second type is intrinsic and protected by crystal symmetries. They are robust against DMI and can be driven to a topological magnon phase by breaking the symmetries. They can be manipulated by an external magnetic field and accessible by the bulk sensitive inelastic neutron scattering experiments.

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