Two-Fluid Theory for Spin Superfluidity in Magnetic Insulators

Phys Rev Lett. 2016 Mar 18;116(11):117201. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.116.117201. Epub 2016 Mar 14.

Abstract

We investigate coupled spin and heat transport in easy-plane magnetic insulators. These materials display a continuous phase transition between normal and condensate states that is controlled by an external magnetic field. Using hydrodynamic equations supplemented by Gross-Pitaevski phenomenology and magnetoelectric circuit theory, we derive a two-fluid model to describe the dynamics of thermal and condensed magnons, and the appropriate boundary conditions in a hybrid normal-metal-magnetic-insulator-normal-metal heterostructure. We discuss how the emergent spin superfluidity can be experimentally probed via a spin Seebeck effect measurement.