Spin-phonon interaction and band effects in the high-T_C superconductor HgBa_2CuO_4

Band calculations show that a stripe-like anti-ferromagnetic spin wave is enforced by a ‘half-breathing’ phonon distortion within the CuO plane of HgBa_2CuO_4. This spin-phonon coupling is increased further by shear distortion and by increased distance between Cu and apical oxygens. The effects from spin-phonon coupling are consistent with many observations in high-T_C materials. Spin-phonon coupling can be important for the mechanism of spin fluctuations and superconductivity, although the effects are quantitatively weak when using the local density potential.