Experimental signatures of spin superfluid ground state in canted antiferromagnet Cr₂O₃ via nonlocal spin transport.

Abstract

Spin superfluid is a novel emerging quantum matter arising from the Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) of spin-1 bosons. We demonstrate the spin superfluid ground state in canted antiferromagnetic Cr₂O₃ thin film at low temperatures via nonlocal spin transport. A large enhancement of the nonlocal spin signal is observed below ~20 K, and it saturates from ~5 down to 2 K. We show that the spins can propagate over very long distances (~20 μm) in such spin superfluid ground state and that the nonlocal spin signal decreases very slowly as the spacing increases with an inverse relationship, which is consistent with theoretical prediction. Furthermore, spin superfluidity has been investigated in the canted antiferromagnetic phase of the (11[Formula: see text]0)-oriented Cr₂O₃ film, where the magnetic field dependence of the associated critical temperature follows a ²/₃ power law near the critical point. The experimental demonstration of the spin superfluid ground state in canted antiferromagnet will be extremely important for the fundamental physics on the BEC of spin-1 bosons and paves the way for future spin supercurrent devices, such as spin-Josephson junctions.