Gaps in topological magnon spectra; Intrinsic versus extrinsic effects

Do, S.-H.*; Paddison, J. A. M.*; Sala, G.*; Williams, T. J.*; 金子 耕士; 桑原 慶太郎*; May, A. F.*; Yan, J.*; McGuire, M. A.*; Stone, M. B.*; et al.

Physical Review B, 106(6), p.L060408_1 - L060408_6, 2022/08

https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.106.L060408

For topological magnon spectra, determining and explaining the presence or absence of a gap at a magnon crossing point is a central issue. An inelastic neutron scattering study of a single crystals is a powerful experimental technique to investigate the spin dynamics and hence is widely employed to probe the magnetic excitation spectra of topological materials. However, when the neutron intensity rapidly disperses, such as near a crossing point for a Dirac magnon, the apparent spectrum is extremely sensitive to experimental conditions including sample mosaic, resolution, and integration range. Here we study a gapless Dirac magnon candidate CrCl to show how the quantification of a gapless or gaped spectrum at the Dirac point is extremely sensitive to the integration range of data. Our work calls for a careful examination of reports of gaps in inelastic neutron scattering spectra to ensure that topological gaps are not misdiagnosed or overestimated due to experimental factors.