Giant spin Nernst effect in a two-dimensional antiferromagnet due to magnetoelastic coupling-induced gaps and interband transitions between magnon-like bands

Abstract: We analyze theoretically the origin of the spin Nernst and thermal Hall effects in FePS3 as a realization of two-dimensional antiferromagnet (2D AFM). We find that a strong magnetoelastic coupling, hybridizing magnetic excitation (magnon) and elastic excitation (phonon), combined with time-reversal-symmetry-breaking, results in a Berry curvature hotspots in the region of anticrossing between the two distinct hybridized bands. Furthermore, large spin Berry curvature emerges due to interband transitions between two magnon-like bands, where a small energy gap is induced by magnetoelastic coupling between such bands that are energetically distant from anticrossing of hybridized bands. These nonzero Berry curvatures generate topological transverse transport (i.e., the thermal Hall effect) of hybrid excitations, dubbed magnon-polaron, as well as of spin (i.e., the spin Nernst effect) carried by them, in response to applied longitudinal temperature gradient. We investigate the dependence of the spin Nernst and thermal Hall conductivities on the applied magnetic field and temperature, unveiling very large spin Nernst conductivity even at zero magnetic field. Our results suggest FePS3 AFM, which is already available in 2D form experimentally, as a promising platform to explore the topological transport of the magnon-polaron quasiparticles at THz frequencies.