Exigence for the Thermal Conductivity of Mn3Si2Te6*

 

Mn3Si2Te6 is a fascinating material. The ferrimagnetic semiconductor exhibits Colossal Magnetoresistance of 7 orders of magnitude when magnetic field is applied on the magnetic hard, time-dependent bistable switching, and many features are sensitive to low frequency AC current. These features are attributed to chiral orbital currents (COCs), which create magnetic moments that couple with the Mn spins to produce a tunneling behavior that decreases and stabilizes its resistance, providing potential applications in memory storage and quantum technologies. While electrical transport properties of Mn3Si2Te6 are being studied, thermal transport properties are largely neglected. Existing studies indicate low thermal conductivity above 300K due to intense phonon scattering, but thermal conductivity below this temperature and under magnetic fields have not been investigated. Also, by doping Ge, the COC effects and the unit cell size increases and overall magnetization decreases. Conversely, doping Se sites reverses the effects. This presents an opportunity to further study thermal conductivity and understand the implications of doping on COC behavior.