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Spin current as a probe of quantum materials

Nature Materials volume 19, pages 139–152 (2020)Cite this article

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Abstract

Spin current historically referred to the flow of electrons carrying spin information, in particular since the discovery of giant magnetoresistance in the 1980s. Recently, it has been found that spin current can also be mediated by spin-triplet supercurrent, superconducting quasiparticles, spinons, magnons, spin superfluidity and so on. Here, we review key progress concerning the developing research direction utilizing spin current as a probe of quantum materials. We focus on spin-triplet superconductivity and spin dynamics in the ferromagnet/superconductor heterostructures, quantum spin liquids, magnetic phase transitions, magnon-polarons, magnon-polaritons, magnon Bose–Einstein condensates and spin superfluidity. The unique characteristics of spin current as a probe will be fruitful for future investigation of spin-dependent properties and the identification of new quantum materials.

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Fig. 1: Spin current as a probe of spin-triplet supercurrent.
Fig. 2: Spin current as a probe of spin dynamics of SCs.
Fig. 3: Spin current as a probe of quantum spin liquids.
Fig. 4: Magnon spin current and its probe of antiferromagnetic phase transition.
Fig. 5: Spin current as a probe of magnon-polarons and magnon-polaritons.
Fig. 6: Magnon BEC and spin supercurrent.
Fig. 7: Spin current as a probe of spin superfluidity.

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Acknowledgements

W.H. acknowledges the financial support from National Basic Research Programs of China (no. 2015CB921104), National Natural Science Foundation of China (no. 11574006), and the Strategic Priority Research Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences (no. XDB28000000). S.M. acknowledges the financial support from ERATO- JST (JPMJER1402), and KAKENHI (no. 26103005, no. JP16H04023 and no. JP26247063) from MEXT, Japan. X.C.X. acknowledges the financial support from National Basic Research Programs of China (no. 2015CB921102), National Natural Science Foundation of China (no. 11534001), and the Strategic Priority Research Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences (no. XDB28000000).

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  1. International Center for Quantum Materials, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing, China

    Wei Han & Xin-Cheng Xie

  2. Collaborative Innovation Center of Quantum Matter, Beijing, China

    Wei Han & Xin-Cheng Xie

  3. RIKEN Center for Emergent Matter Science (CEMS), Wako, Japan

    Sadamichi Maekawa

  4. Kavli Institute for Theoretical Sciences (KITS), University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

    Sadamichi Maekawa

  5. CAS Center for Excellence in Topological Quantum Computation, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

    Xin-Cheng Xie

  6. Beijing Academy of Quantum Information Sciences, Beijing, China

    Xin-Cheng Xie

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Han, W., Maekawa, S. & Xie, XC. Spin current as a probe of quantum materials. Nat. Mater. 19, 139–152 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-019-0456-7

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