Nonmonotonic phonon thermal transport during layer-by-layer magnetic switching in four-layer CrSBr
*Correspondence to:
Weina Ren, Faculty of Science, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming 650500, Yunnan, China.
E-mail: wnren@kust.edu.cn
Shiqian Hu, School of Physics and Astronomy, Yunnan Key Laboratory for Quantum Information, Yunnan University, Kunming 650091, Yunnan, China. E-mail: shiqian@ynu.edu.cn
Shiqian Hu, School of Physics and Astronomy, Yunnan Key Laboratory for Quantum Information, Yunnan University, Kunming 650091, Yunnan, China. E-mail: shiqian@ynu.edu.cn
Thermo-X. 2026;2:202627. 10.70401/tx.2026.0030
Received: June 04, 2026Accepted: August 20, 2026Published: August 20, 2026
This manuscript is made available in its unedited form to allow early access to the
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Abstract
Understanding the interplay between magnetic ordering and phonon thermal transport is crucial for the thermal management of two-dimensional magnetic devices. Here, using first-principles calculations combined with the phonon Boltzmann transport equation, we systematically investigate the lattice thermal transport properties of four-layer CrSBr during its layer-by-layer magnetic switching process. As the magnetic configuration evolves from the antiferromagnetic (AFM) state to the ferromagnetic (FM) state through successive spin reversals, the lattice thermal conductivity exhibits a pronounced nonmonotonic variation. In particular, the intermediate ferrimagnetic FiM1 state shows a dramatic reduction in thermal conductivity of approximately 37.2% along x and 54.5% along y compared with the AFM state, whereas the FiM2 and FM states retain thermal conductivities close to the AFM configuration. Detailed analysis reveals that magnetic switching only weakly affects harmonic phonon properties, including phonon dispersions and group velocities. In contrast, the FiM1 state exhibits strongly enhanced anharmonic phonon scattering and reduced phonon participation ratios in the low-frequency region dominated by heat-carrying phonons. Further layer-resolved vibrational analysis identifies a mixed vibrational character in the FiM1 state, combining AFM-like layer-selective and FM-like layer-equivalent features, which is correlated with enhanced low-frequency anharmonic phonon scattering. Our results reveal a unique mechanism for magnetically tunable thermal transport in van der Waals magnets and provide microscopic insights into magnetic-order-dependent phonon thermal transport in layered magnetic materials.
Keywords
CrSBr, two-dimensional magnetic materials, phonon thermal transport, layer-by-layer magnetic switching, spin-phonon coupling
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Chen R, Luo Y, Li J, Ren W, Hu S. Nonmonotonic phonon thermal transport during layer-by-layer magnetic switching in four-layer CrSBr. Thermo-X. 2026;2:202627. https://doi.org/10.70401/tx.2026.0030
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Chen R, Luo Y, Li J, Ren W, Hu S. Nonmonotonic phonon thermal transport during layer-by-layer magnetic switching in four-layer CrSBr. Thermo-X. 2026;2:202627. https://doi.org/10.70401/tx.2026.0030
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