Magnetic Raman optical activity in FeF2

Raman optical activity (ROA) of magnons and phonons in antiferromagnetic FeF2 (TN=78 K) has been studied as a function of temperature and in applied magnetic field. For exciting light incident along the rutile-structure c-axis, ROA is observed for magnons but not phonons. In zero field, the small anisotropy-induced splitting (0.09 cm−1) of the two acoustic-magnon branches is observed by light scattering for the first time. The splitting in applied magnetic field is found to reduce with increasing temperature in accordance with theory. No ROA was detected for two-magnon excitations.