Collective spin dynamics of Z2 vortex crystals in triangular Kitaev-Heisenberg antiferromagnets

Abstract

We show that the mesoscopic incommensurate $\mathbb{Z}_2$ vortex crystals proposed for layered triangular anisotropic magnets can be most saliently identified by two distinctive signatures in dynamical spin response experiments: The presence of pseudo-Goldstone `phonon' modes at low frequencies $\omega$, associated with the collective vibrations of the vortex cores, and a characteristic multi-scattered intensity profile at higher $\omega$, arising from a large number of Bragg reflections and magnon bandgaps. These are direct fingerprints of the large vortex sizes and magnetic unit cells and the solitonic spin profile around the vortex cores.