Caloric Phenomena and Stirling-Cycle Performance in Heisenberg- Kitaev Magnon Systems

We investigate the Stirling-cycle performance of a Heisenberg--Kitaev magnonic medium with Dzyaloshinskii--Moriya (DM) interactions. Using linear spin-wave theory, we show the DM interaction preserves spectral symmetry, yielding even caloric responses and symmetric Stirling engine efficiency. In contrast, bond-dependent Kitaev exchange asymmetrically distorts the magnonic density of states, enabling distinct direct and inverse caloric effects. Consequently, Kitaev-driven cycles achieve significantly higher efficiencies than DM-driven protocols, approaching a high-performance saturation regime for negative couplings. This establishes exchange-anisotropic magnets as highly tunable platforms for nanoscale solid-state energy conversion.

Source: arXiv:2603.26477v1 - http://arxiv.org/abs/2603.26477v1 PDF: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2603.26477v1 Original Link: http://arxiv.org/abs/2603.26477v1