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Lattice and spin excitations in multiferroic h-YbMnO3

Lattice and spin excitations have been studied by Raman scattering in hexagonal YbMnO3 single crystals. The temperature dependences of the phonon modes show that the E2 mode at 256 cm-1 related to the displacement of Mn and O ions in a-b plane is coupled to the spin order. The A1 phonon mode at 678 cm-1 presents a soft mode behavior at the Neel temperature. Connected to the motion of the apical oxygen ions along the c direction, this mode controls directly the Mn-Mn interactions between adjacent Mn planes and the superexchange path. Crystal field and magnon mode excitations have been identified. The temperature investigation of the spin excitations shows that the spin structure is strongly influence by the Yb-Mn interaction. Under a magnetic field along the c axis, we have investigated the magnetic reordering and its impact on the spin excitations.