Emerging spin–phonon coupling through cross-talk of two magnetic sublattices

Many material properties such as superconductivity, magnetoresistance or magnetoelectricity emerge from the non-linear interactions of spins and lattice/phonons. Hence, an in-depth understanding of spin–phonon coupling is at the heart of these properties. While most examples deal with one magnetic lattice only, the simultaneous presence of multiple magnetic orderings yield potentially unknown properties. We demonstrate a strong spin–phonon coupling in SmFeO3 that emerges from the interaction of both, iron and samarium spins. We probe this coupling as a remarkably large shift of phonon frequencies and the appearance of new phonons. The spin–phonon coupling is absent for the magnetic ordering of iron alone but emerges with the additional ordering of the samarium spins. Intriguingly, this ordering is not spontaneous but induced by the iron magnetism. Our findings show an emergent phenomenon from the non-linear interaction by multiple orders, which do not need to occur spontaneously. This allows for a conceptually different approach in the search for yet unknown properties.