What is it about?
We developed a mathematical framework to elucidate how the orbital degree of freedom contributes to magnon transport. Our work reveals that, despite being charge-neutral, magnons can induce electric polarization through their coupled spin and orbital moments. In essence, magnons can generate a measurable voltage, providing a new pathway for manipulating and detecting spin waves via purely electrical means.
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Why is it important?
Our result shows that magnons, the waves that carry magnetic energy , can actually generate an electric signal that we can measure. Even more exciting, we found that electric fields, including those from light, could be used to guide and control their motion. This breakthrough could lead to a new generation of ultra-fast, energy-efficient technologies. Instead of relying on traditional electrical currents, which waste energy through resistive heating, future devices could use magnon-based channels to send information much more quickly and with far less power loss. This framework gives scientists a powerful new way to predict and design how magnons behave and brings us one step closer to controlling magnetic waves with light.
Perspectives
The formalism developed in this work demonstrates that magnon transport can generate measurable electric polarization, enabling the electrical or optical control and detection of magnon spin and orbital transport. This finding could open exciting prospects in magnonics, spintronics, and orbitronics, paving the way for a new generation of ultrafast and energy-efficient technologies.
D. Quang To
University of Delaware
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Magnon-induced electric polarization and magnon Nernst effects, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, October 2025, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2507255122.
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