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Bose–Einstein condensation in magnetic insulators

Nature Physics volume 4, pages 198–204 (2008)Cite this article

Abstract

The Bose–Einstein condensate (BEC) is a fascinating state of matter predicted to occur for particles obeying Bose statistics. Although the BEC has been observed with bosonic atoms in liquid helium and cold gases, the concept is much more general. We here review analogous states, where excitations in magnetic insulators form the BEC. In antiferromagnets, elementary excitations are magnons, quasiparticles with integer spin and Bose statistics. In certain experiments their density can be controlled by an applied magnetic field leading to the formation of a BEC. Furthermore, interactions between the excitations and the interplay with the crystalline lattice produce very rich physics compared with the canonical BEC. Studies of magnon condensation in a growing number of magnetic materials thus provide a unique window into an exciting world of quantum phase transitions and exotic quantum states, with striking parallels to phenomena studied in ultracold atomic gases in optical lattices.

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Figure 1: BEC of magnons in dimerized quantum antiferromagnets.
Figure 2: Experimental results on the magnon BEC.
Figure 3: Lattice boson phases.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported in part by the Swiss NSF under NCCR MaNEP, a Wolfson Royal Society Research Merit Award and the US National Science Foundation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. DPMC-MaNEP, University of Geneva, 24 Quai Ernest Ansermet, 1211 Geneva 4, Switzerland

    Thierry Giamarchi

  2. London Centre for Nanotechnology and Department of Physics and Astronomy, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK

    Christian Rüegg

  3. Department of Physics and Astronomy, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland 21218, USA

    Oleg Tchernyshyov

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  1. Thierry Giamarchi
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Correspondence to Thierry Giamarchi, Christian Rüegg or Oleg Tchernyshyov.

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Giamarchi, T., Rüegg, C. & Tchernyshyov, O. Bose–Einstein condensation in magnetic insulators. Nature Phys 4, 198–204 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys893

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