Superfluid spin transport in ferro- and antiferromagnets

Abstract

This paper focuses on spin superfluid transport, observation of which was recently reported in antiferromagnet Cr$_2$O$_3$ [Yuan et al., Sci. Adv. 4, eaat1098 (2018)]. This paper analyzes the role of dissipation in transformation of spin current injected with incoherent magnons to a superfluid spin current near the interface where spin is injected. The Gilbert damping parameter in the Landau-Lifshitz-Gilbert theory does not describe dissipation properly, and the dissipation parameters are calculated from the Boltzmann equation for magnons scattered by defects. The two-fluid theory is developed similar to the two-fluid theory for superfluids. This theory shows that the influence of temperature variation in bulk on the superfluid spin transport (bulk Seebeck effect) is weak at low temperatures. The scenario that the results of Yuan et al. are connected with the Seebeck effect at the interface between the spin detector and the sample is also discussed. The Landau criterion for an antiferromagnet put in a magnetic field is derived from the spectrum of collective spin modes. The Landau instability starts in the gapped mode earlier than in the Goldstone gapless mode, in contrast to easy-plane ferromagnets where the Goldstone mode becomes unstable. The structure of the magnetic vortex in the geometry of the experiment is determined. The vortex core has the skyrmion structure with finite magnetization component normal to the magnetic field. This magnetization creates stray magnetic fields around the exit point of the vortex line from the sample, which can be used for experimental detection of vortices.