J. Lorenzana et Ga. Sawatzky, THEORY OF PHONON-ASSISTED MULTIMAGNON OPTICAL-ABSORPTION AND BIMAGNONSTATES IN QUANTUM ANTIFERROMAGNETS, Physical review. B, Condensed matter, 52(13), 1995, pp. 9576-9589
We calculate the effective charge for multimagnon infrared absorption
assisted by phonons in a perovskitelike antiferromagnet and we compute
the spectra for two-magnon absorption using interacting spin-wave the
ory. The full set of equations for the interacting two-magnon problem
is presented in the random-phase approximation for arbitrary total mom
entum of the magnon pair. The spin-wave theory results fit very well t
he primary peak of recent measured bands in the parent insulating comp
ounds of cuprate superconductors. The line shape is explained as being
due to the absorption of one phonon plus a new quasiparticle excitati
on of the Heisenberg Hamiltonian that consists of a long-lived virtual
bound state of two magnons (bimagnon). The bimagnon states have well-
defined energy and momentum in a substantial portion of the Brillouin
zone. The higher-energy bands are explained as one phonon plus higher
multimagnon absorption processes. Other possible experiments for obser
ving bimagnons are proposed. In addition we predict the line shape for
the spin-1 system La2NiO4.