Evidence for spin current driven Bose-Einstein condensation of magnons

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates experimentally that spin currents can induce Bose-Einstein condensation of magnons in magnetic insulator films, enabling control of coherent magnon states for quantum magnonic and spintronic applications.

Contribution

It provides the first experimental evidence of current-driven magnon Bose-Einstein condensation in magnetic insulators, advancing the understanding of spin current control over quantum magnon states.

Findings

Magnons form a coherent condensate above a threshold spin current.

The chemical potential of magnons reaches the lowest energy level at critical current.

The results enable development of integrated quantum magnonic and spintronic devices.

Abstract

The quanta of magnetic excitations - magnons - are known for their unique ability to undergo Bose-Einstein condensation at room temperature. This fascinating phenomenon reveals itself as a spontaneous formation of a macroscopic coherent state under the influence of incoherent stimuli. Spin currents have been predicted to offer electronic control of magnon Bose-Einstein condensates, but this phenomenon has not been experimentally evidenced up to now. Here we experimentally show that current-driven Bose-Einstein condensation can be achieved in nanometer-thick films of magnetic insulators with tailored dynamic magnetic nonlinearities and minimized magnon-magnon interactions. We demonstrate that, above a certain threshold, magnons injected by the spin current overpopulate the lowest-energy level forming a highly coherent spatially extended state. By accessing magnons with essentially different energies, we quantify the chemical potential of the driven magnon gas and show that, at the critical current, it reaches the energy of the lowest magnon level. Our results pave the way for implementation of integrated microscopic quantum magnonic and spintronic devices.