Supercurrent in a room-temperature Bose–Einstein magnon condensate

A supercurrent is a macroscopic effect of a phase-induced collective motion of a quantum condensate. So far, experimentally observed supercurrent phenomena such as superconductivity and superfluidity have been restricted to cryogenic temperatures. Here, we report on the discovery of a supercurrent i...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature physics 2016-11, Vol.12 (11), p.1057-1062
Main Authors: Bozhko, Dmytro A., Serga, Alexander A., Clausen, Peter, Vasyuchka, Vitaliy I., Heussner, Frank, Melkov, Gennadii A., Pomyalov, Anna, L’vov, Victor S., Hillebrands, Burkard
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
639/766/119/2791
639/766/119/2793
639/766/119/997
Atomic
Classical and Continuum Physics
Complex Systems
Condensates
Condensed Matter Physics
Density
Electric currents
Evolution
Heating
Laser beam heating
Light scattering
Magnons
Materials science
Mathematical and Computational Physics
Molecular
Optical and Plasma Physics
Physics
Spectroscopy
Spin waves
Superconductivity
Theoretical
Wavefunctions
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Summary:A supercurrent is a macroscopic effect of a phase-induced collective motion of a quantum condensate. So far, experimentally observed supercurrent phenomena such as superconductivity and superfluidity have been restricted to cryogenic temperatures. Here, we report on the discovery of a supercurrent in a Bose–Einstein magnon condensate prepared in a room-temperature ferrimagnetic film. The magnon condensate is formed in a parametrically pumped magnon gas and is subject to a thermal gradient created by local laser heating of the film. The appearance of the supercurrent, which is driven by a thermally induced phase shift in the condensate wavefunction, is evidenced by analysis of the temporal evolution of the magnon density measured by means of Brillouin light scattering spectroscopy. Our findings offer opportunities for the investigation of room-temperature macroscopic quantum phenomena and their potential applications at ambient conditions. Studies of supercurrent phenomena, such as superconductivity and superfluidity, are usually restricted to cryogenic temperatures, but evidence suggests that a magnon supercurrent can be excited in a Bose–Einstein magnon condensate at room temperature.
ISSN:1745-2473
1745-2481
DOI:10.1038/nphys3838