Two-magnon scattering in the 5d all-in-All-out pyrochlore magnet Cd2Os2O7

Abstract

5d pyrochlore oxides with all-in-All-out magnetic order are prime candidates for realizing strongly correlated, topological phases of matter. Despite significant effort, a full understanding of all-in-All-out magnetism remains elusive as the associated magnetic excitations have proven difficult to access with conventional techniques. Here we report a Raman spectroscopy study of spin dynamics in the all-in-All-out magnetic state of the 5d pyrochlore Cd2Os2O7. Through a comparison between the two-magnon scattering and spin-wave theory, we confirm the large single ion anisotropy in this material and show that the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya and exchange interactions play a significant role in the spin-wave dispersions. The Raman data also reveal complex spin-charge-lattice coupling and indicate that the metal-insulator transition in Cd2Os2O7 is Lifshitz-type. Our work establishes Raman scattering as a simple and powerful method for exploring the spin dynamics in 5d pyrochlore magnets. © 2017 The Author(s)