Dynamic signatures of spin-lattice coupling in the layered ferrimagnet Mn3Si2Te6

Martinez, Luis M.; Liu, Yu; Petrovic, Cedomir; Haldar, Sumit; Griepe, Theodore; Atxitia, Unai; Campbell, Marshall Alexander; Pettes, Michael Thompson; Prasankumar, Rohit P.; Santos, Elton J. G.; Singamaneni, Srinivasa R.; Padmanabhan, Prashant

doi:10.1038/s44306-025-00101-3

Dynamic signatures of spin-lattice coupling in the layered ferrimagnet Mn₃Si₂Te₆

Journal Article · Thu Sep 04 00:00:00 EDT 2025 · npj Spintronics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/s44306-025-00101-3· OSTI ID:2588835

^[1]; Liu, Yu ^[2]; Petrovic, Cedomir ^[3]; Haldar, Sumit ^[4]; Griepe, Theodore ^[5]; Atxitia, Unai ^[5]; ^[6]; ^[7]; Prasankumar, Rohit P. ^[7]; Santos, Elton J. G. ^[8]; Singamaneni, Srinivasa R. ^[9]; ^[7]

Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); The University of Texas at El Paso, TX (United States)
Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
University of Edinburgh (United Kingdom)
Instituto de Ciencia de Materiales de Madrid (Spain)
Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); University of California, Irvine, CA (United States)
Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
University of Edinburgh (United Kingdom); Donostia International Physics Center (Spain)
The University of Texas at El Paso, TX (United States)

Magnetic van der Waals (vdW) materials exhibit a profound interconnectedness between their various degrees of freedom, pointing to a wealth of potential applications in low-power and high-speed spintronic devices. Recently, light-matter interactions have been leveraged as robust, dynamic pathways to gain control over the properties of vdW magnets through the use of ultrafast pulses of light. Here, we utilize ultrafast photoexcitation to drive coherent lattice oscillations in the layered ferrimagnetic crystal Mn₃Si₂Te₆, which significantly stiffen below the magnetic ordering temperature. We suggest that this is due to an exchange-mediated contraction of the lattice, stemming from strong magneto-structural coupling in this material. Furthermore, simulations of the transient incoherent response uncover the critical role of the spin-mediated electronic relaxation pathways. These results underscore the importance of spin-lattice coupling in vdW magnets and demonstrate a promising strategy for their dynamic optical control via their entangled degrees of freedom.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: National Science Foundation (NSF), Division of Materials Research; USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES). Materials Sciences & Engineering Division (MSE)

Grant/Contract Number:: 89233218CNA000001; SC0012704

OSTI ID:: 2588835

Report Number(s):: LA-UR--23-29796; 10.1038/s44306-025-00101-3; 2948-2119

Journal Information:: npj Spintronics, Journal Name: npj Spintronics Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 3; ISSN 2948-2119

Publisher:: Springer Science and Business Media LLCCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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