Interplay of topological electrons and magnons in the Kagome magnet CoCu3(OH)6Cl2

Abstract

Spin and charge are two interrelated properties of electrons. Most of previous works on topological phases of matter tend to study the topological electronic bands and topological magnon excitations separately. In this work, by combining density functional theory and the Schwinger boson method, we determine the topological electronic band structure and topological magnon spectrum simultaneously in the ferromagnetic phase of CoCu _3 (OH) _6 Cl _2 . This Herbertsmithite material has an ABC-stacking Kagome-lattice structure with fractional occupancies on the Cu sites. We find that the hopping parameters of the electronic and magnonic bands can mutually influence each other and predict in further model studies the possibility of magnetically driven topological phase transitions in the electronic bands. Our study also provides a useful method to deal with correlated topological magnetic systems with narrow band gaps self-consistently.

Keywords

• topological electrons
• topological magnons
• Kagome lattice
• t–J model Schwinger boson method