Spin Superfluidity in Biaxial Antiferromagnetic Insulators

Phys Rev Lett. 2017 Mar 31;118(13):137201. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.118.137201. Epub 2017 Mar 29.

Abstract

Antiferromagnets may exhibit spin superfluidity since the dipole interaction is weak. We seek to establish that this phenomenon occurs in insulators such as NiO, which is a good spin conductor according to previous studies. We investigate nonlocal spin transport in a planar antiferromagnetic insulator with a weak uniaxial anisotropy. The anisotropy hinders spin superfluidity by creating a substantial threshold that the current must overcome. Nevertheless, we show that applying a high magnetic field removes this obstacle near the spin-flop transition of the antiferromagnet. Importantly, the spin superfluidity can then persist across many micrometers, even in dirty samples.