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arXiv:2407.19011 · Physical Review Letters

Field-Induced Magnon Decays in Dipolar Quantum Magnets

Andrew D. Kim, Ahmed Khalifa, Shubhayu Chatterjee

Published Jun 27, 2025• 1 citation
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We investigate the spontaneous disintegration of magnons in two-dimensional ferromagnets and antiferromagnets dominated by long-range dipolar interactions. Analyzing kinematic constraints, we show that the unusual dispersion of dipolar ferromagnets in a uniform magnetic field precludes magnon decay at all fields, in sharp contrast to short-range exchange-driven magnets. However, in a staggered magnetic field, magnons can decay in both dipolar ferromagnets and antiferromagnets. Remarkably, such decays do not require a minimum threshold field, and happen over a nearly fixed fraction of the Brillouin zone in the XY limit, highlighting the significant role played by dipolar interactions. In addition, topological transitions in the decay surfaces lead to singularities in the magnon spectrum. Regularizing such singular behavior via a self-consistent approach, we make predictions for dynamical spin correlations accessible to near-term quantum simulators and sensors.

DOI
10.1103/2tx1-v7ml

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We predict that spin waves in an ordered quantum antiferromagnet in a strong magnetic field become unstable with respect to spontaneous two-magnon decays. At zero temperature, the instability occurs between the threshold field H∗{H}^{*}H∗ and the saturation field Hc{H}_{c}Hc​. As an example, we investigate the high-field dynamics of a Heisenberg antiferromagnet on a square lattice and show that the single-magnon branch of the spectrum disappears in most of the Brillouin zone.
Abstract The notion of a quasiparticle, such as a phonon, a roton or a magnon, is used in modern condensed matter physics to describe an elementary collective excitation. The intrinsic zero-temperature magnon damping in quantum spin systems can be driven by the interaction of the one-magnon states and multi-magnon continuum. However, detailed experimental studies on this quantum many-body effect induced by an applied magnetic field are rare. Here we present a high-resolution neutron scattering study in high fields on an S=1/2 antiferromagnet C9H18N2CuBr4. Compared with the non-interacting linear spin–wave theory, our results demonstrate a variety of phenomena including field-induced renormalization of one-magnon dispersion, spontaneous magnon decay observed via intrinsic linewidth broadening, unusual non-Lorentzian two-peak structure in the excitation spectra and a dramatic shift of spectral weight from one-magnon state to the two-magnon continuum.
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A theoretical overview of the phenomenon of spontaneous magnon decays in quantum antiferromagnets is presented. The intrinsic zero-temperature damping of magnons in quantum spin systems is a fascinating many-body effect, which has recently attracted significant attention in view of its possible observation in neutron-scattering experiments. An introduction to the theory of magnon interactions and a discussion of necessary symmetry and kinematic conditions for spontaneous decays are provided. Various parallels with the decays of anharmonic phonons and excitations in superfluid 4He^{4}\mathrm{He}4He are extensively used. Three principal cases of spontaneous magnon decays are considered: field-induced decays in Heisenberg antiferromagnets, zero-field decays in spiral antiferromagnets, and triplon decays in quantum-disordered magnets. Analytical results are compared with available numerical data and prospective materials for experimental observation of the decay-related effects are briefly discussed.
We uncover a new class of dynamical quantum instability in driven magnets leading to emergent enhancement of antiferromagnetic correlations even for purely ferromagnetic microscopic couplings. A primary parametric amplification creates a frequency-tuned nested magnon distribution in momentum space, which seeds a secondary instability marked by the emergence of enhanced antiferromagnetic correlations, mirroring the instability of nested Fermi surfaces in electronic systems. In sharp contrast to the fermionic case, however, the magnon-driven instability is intrinsically non-equilibrium and fundamentally inaccessible in thermal physics. Its quantum mechanical origin sets it apart from classical instabilities such as Faraday and modulation instabilities, which underlie several instances of dynamical behavior observed in magnetic and cold-atom systems.