Magnon Supercurrent in a Magnon Bose-Einstein Condensate subject to a Thermal Gradient
Per Axel Clausen, B. Hillebrands
We report evidence for the existence of a supercurrent of magnons in a magnon Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) prepared in a room temperature yttrium-iron-garnet (YIG) magnetic film. The magnon BEC is formed in a parametrically populated magnon gas, and its temporal evolution is studied by time-resolved Brillouin light scattering (BLS) spectroscopy in the area of the BLS laser focus. It has been found that local laser heating in the center of the condensate decreases the density of the magnon BEC in the steady-state pump regime and it enhances the temporal decrease of the freely evolving magnon condensate after the termination of the pumping pulse, but it does not alter the relaxation dynamics of the gaseous magnon phase. This phenomenon is understood as the appearance of a magnon supercurrent within the condensate due to a temperature-gradient induced phase gradient in the condensate. Bose-Einstein condensation [1] can be achieved either by decreasing the temperature of a boson gas [2] or by increasing its density. The latter method is especially applicable to g ases of weakly interacting quasi-particles such as excitons [3] , polaritons [4, 5], photons [6], and magnons [7, 8]. When a spin system is pumped, and when the injected magnons thermalize through scattering processes conserving both their number and the total energy, a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) may be formed at the lowest energy state of the energy-momentum spectrum even at room temperature conditions of the magnetic film carrying the magnons [8, 9]. As the condensed magnon phase is localized in the global energy minimum, its group velocity is exactly zero and no energy transport can be associated with the magnon BEC. The situation can change, when a magnon supercurrent driven by a gradient in the phase of the wavefunction of a magnon condensate can be excited. Such a phase gradient can be induced by, e.g., a potential gradient or a temperature gradient. However, the dynamics of magnon condensates in such a gradient is still terra incognita. Here we provide experimental insight into the evolution of a magnon BEC in a thermal gradient generated by local laser heating. We show that such a heating influences both the steady-state characteristics and the transitional behavior of the magno n BEC, which can be understood using the concept of a magnon supercurrent. We study the temporal evolution of a magnon BEC in a single-crystal yttrium iron garnet (YIG, Y3Fe5O12) film by
•Mar 2, 2015•1 citation