Theory of infra-red and optical spectra of antiferromagnets

The contributions of magnons to the optical properties of antiferromagnets having the rutile structure are discussed. The properties considered are electric-dipole active two-magnon absorption in the infra-red, and magnon sidebands on sharp-line exciton transitions in the visible. The discussion is based on a thorough treatment of the properties of excitons and magnons in the antiferromagnetically ordered state. The site-group and space-group symmetries of the magnetic excitations are derived and the selection rules for electric and magnetic dipole transitions are determined. The occurrence of magnetic Davydov splittings of the excitons is investigated, and their symmetry properties throughout the Brillouin zone are derived. The functional dependences of exciton energy on wave vector are calculated. Applications of the theory are made to experimental results on excitons and magnons in MnF₂, FeF₂ and CoF₂.

The possible mechanisms for two-magnon and magnon-sideband absorption are discussed, and the influence of crystal symmetry on these mechanisms is described. The two-magnon state responsible for electric-dipole absorption is identified and selection rules for electric-dipole activity are presented. A spin Hamiltonian for the two-magnon process is set up and used to derive expressions for absorption coefficients for electric vector parallel and perpendicular to the crystal c-axis. Comparison with experiment for MnF₂ yields numerical values for the parameters of the basic coupling mechanism. The exciton-magnon states which give rise to magnon-sideband absorption are explicitly constructed and electric-dipole selection rules are derived for all possible types of sideband. Spin Hamiltonians for the various magnonsideband absorption processes are presented and used to derive expressions for sideband shapes. The results are applied to the experimental spectra for MnF₂ and FeF₂ and the sideband shapes in MnF₂ are calculated numerically. The sideband shapes observable in emission spectra are also briefly discussed.