Field-Angle Dependence of Phonon Thermal Hall Effect in Na2X2TeO6 (X = Co, Zn)

Abstract: The mechanism behind thermal Hall effects by phonons, which are observed in various materials, is not clarified despite the dominant contribution as heat carriers. Theoretically, mechanisms based on the intrinsic Berry phase and those on extrinsic impurity-induced scatterings have been proposed, which can be distinguished by comparing the field-angle dependence of the thermal Hall effect and that of the magnetic anisotropy. Here, we investigate the field-angle dependence of the thermal Hall effects in the antiferromagnet Na2Co2TeO6 and its non-magnetic isostructural analogue Na2Zn2TeO6 in the ac plane. We find that the field-angle dependence of the thermal Hall conductivity in both materials well follows that of the out-of-plane magnetization, showing a common mechanism by extrinsic impurity-induced scatterings in both the phonon thermal Hall effect and that enhanced by a coupling with the magnetism.