Topological Magnon-Phonon Hybrid Excitations in Two-Dimensional Ferromagnets with Tunable Chern Numbers

Abstract

We theoretically investigate magnon-phonon hybrid excitations in two-dimensional ferromagnets. The bulk bands of hybrid excitations, which are referred to as magnon polarons, are analytically shown to be topologically nontrivial, possessing finite Chem numbers. We also show that the Chem numbers of magnon-polaron bands and the number of band-crossing lines can be manipulated by an effective magnetic field. For experiments, we propose to use the thermal Hall conductivity as a probe of the finite Berry curvatures of magnon-polarons. Our results show that a simple ferromagnet on a square lattice supports topologically nontrivial magnon polarons, generalizing topological excitations in conventional magnetic systems.