A joint publication with Jairo Sinova and Helen Gomonay about magnon eigenmode and polarization control in the easy-plane phase of hematite has been published in Physical Review B.
They describe how magnon eigenmodes in easy-plane antiferromagnetic insulators are linearly polarized and are not expected to carry any net spin angular momentum. Motivated by r
ecent nonlocal spin transport experiments in the easy-plane phase of hematite, they perform a series of micromagnetic simulations in a nonlocal geometry at finite temperatures. They show that by tuning an external magnetic field, they can control the magnon eigenmodes and the polarization of the spin transport signal in these systems. They argue that a coherent beating oscillation between two orthogonal linearly polarized magnon eigenmodes is the mechanism responsible for finite spin transport in easy-plane antiferromagnetic insulators. The sign of the detected spin signal is also naturally explained by the proposed coherent beating mechanism. Their finding opens a path for on-demand control of the spin signal in a large class of easy-plane antiferromagnetic insulators.
You can find the publication under Phys. Rev. B 107, 184404 (2023).