Spin-mechanical inertia in antiferromagnets

Abstract

Angular momentum conservation has served as a guiding principle in the interplay between spin dynamics and mechanical rotations. However, in an antiferromagnet with vanishing magnetization, new fundamental rules are required to properly describe spin-mechanical phenomena. Here we show that the N\'eel order dynamics affects the mechanical motion of a rigid body by modifying its inertia tensor in the presence of strong magnetocrystalline anisotropy. This effect depends on temperature when magnon excitations are considered. Such a spin-mechanical inertia can produce measurable consequences at small scales.