Authors
Sala, G.; Lin, J.; Samarakoon, A.; Parker, D. S.; May, A.; Stone, M.
Abstract
A detailed analysis of the ferrimagnetic ground state of Mn 3 Si 2 Te 6 has been performed using inelastic neutronscattering. Although the proposed valence of the nominal Mn 2+ ions would have quenched orbital angularmomentum, a significant exchange anisotropy exists in Mn 3 Si 2 Te 6 . This apparent exchange anisotropy is amanifestation of a weak spin-orbit coupling in the layered material. We employ a detailed simulation of thespin-wave spectrum coupling traditional refinement of dispersion parameters to image analysis techniques, whileincluding Monte Carlo simulations of the instrumental resolution to accurately identify the exchange couplings tothe third nearest neighbor. An independent validation of our results is made by comparing our final Hamiltonianto heat capacity measurements.