Phys.org  October 28, 2023 In some non- and paramagnetic systems, a large phonon magnetic moment is found due to coupling with electronic excitations. However, for magnetically ordered systems, a correspondingly large moment has not yet been discovered, and the roles of many-body correlations and fluctuations in phonon magnetism remain unclear. Researchers in China found a phonon magnetic moment that was enhanced by critical fluctuations in Fe2Mo3O8. Combining magneto-Raman spectroscopy and inelastic neutron scattering measurements, they showed that a pair of low-lying chiral phonons carried large magnetic moments. Once the system was driven to a ferrimagnetic phase, they observed a splitting […]