Persistent spin currents in superconducting altermagnets

TL;DR

This paper introduces superconducting altermagnets capable of supporting persistent spin currents, including pure spin supercurrents, due to their unique two-condensate structure of spin-up and spin-down electrons, with potential for dissipationless spin transport.

Contribution

It presents the concept of superconducting altermagnets supporting persistent spin currents and describes a spin-current dynamo effect to generate pure spin supercurrents.

Findings

Support for persistent spin currents in altermagnets.

Pure spin supercurrents can be generated without charge flow.

Spin currents remain non-dissipative even with spin-orbit interactions.

Abstract

Superconductors are famously capable of supporting persistent electrical currents, that is, currents that flow without any measurable decay as long as the material is kept in the superconducting state. We introduce here a class of materials -- superconducting altermagnets -- that can both generate and carry persistent {\em spin} currents. This includes spin-polarized electrical supercurrent as well as pure spin supercurrent that facilitates spin transport in the absence of any charge transport. A key to this remarkable property is the realization that the leading superconducting instability of altermagnetic metals consists of two independent condensates formed of spin-up and spin-down electrons. In the non-relativistic limit the two condensates are decoupled and can thus naturally support persistent currents with any spin polarization, including pure spin supercurrents realized in the charge counterflow regime. We describe a novel ``spin-current dynamo effect'' that can be used to generate pure spin supercurrent in such systems by driving a charge current along certain crystallographic directions. Away from the non-relativistic limit, when spin-orbit interactions and magnetic disorder are present, we find that the spin current generically develops spatial oscillations but, importantly, no dissipation or decay. This is in stark contrast to spin currents in normal diffusive metals which tend to decay on relatively short lengthscales. We illustrate the above properties by performing model calculations relevant to two distinct classes of altermagnets and various device geometries.