Strain control of magnetism and magnon thermal conductivity in SeCoO3

Abstract

Strain-modulated magnetic phase transition is an attractive phenomenon in condensed-matter physics and materials science. Using density functional theory and spin wave theory, we investigate the effect of strain on the magnetic ordering and low-energy magnetic excitation in perovskite SeCoO3. Under biaxial strain and a-axis uniaxial strain, the system undergoes a phase transition from the original G-type antiferromagnetic to C-type antiferromagnetic order due to a significant reduction in the out-of-plane bond angles. Simultaneously, marked changes also occur in both the spectral weight distribution of low-energy spin wave modes and the in-plane longitudinal thermal conductivity. Although uniaxial strain along b-axis does not induce a magnetic phase transition, the in-plane thermal conductivity is nonetheless enhanced under tensile strain.