Institute for Solid State Physics, University of Tokyo, Kashiwa, Chiba, 277-8581, Japan.
Department of Engineering Science, University of Electro-Communications, Chofu, Tokyo, 182-8585, Japan.
Nat Commun. 2023 Apr 4;14(1):1744. doi: 10.1038/s41467-023-37125-4.
Bose-Einstein condensation of electron-hole pairs, exciton condensation, has been effortfully investigated since predicted 60 years ago. Irrefutable evidence has still been lacking due to experimental difficulties in verifying the condensation of the charge neutral and non-magnetic spin-singlet excitons. Whilst, condensation of spin-triplet excitons is a promising frontier because spin supercurrent and spin-Seebeck effects will be observable. A canonical cobaltite LaCoO under very high magnetic fields is a propitious candidate, yet to be verified. Here, we unveil the exotic phase diagram of LaCoO up to 600 T generated using the electromagnetic flux compression method and the state-of-the-art magnetostriction gauge. We found the continuous magnetostriction curves and a bending structure, which suggest the emergence of two distinct spin-triplet exciton condensates. By constructing a phenomenological model, we showed that quantum fluctuations of excitons are crucial for the field-induced successive transitions. The spin-triplet exciton condensation in a cobaltite, which is three-dimensional and thermally equilibrated, opens up a novel venue for spintronics technologies with spin-supercurrent such as a spin Josephson junction.
自 60 年前预言以来,人们一直在努力研究电子-空穴对的玻色-爱因斯坦凝聚(Bose-Einstein condensation of electron-hole pairs, exciton condensation)。由于实验上难以验证电荷中性和非磁性自旋单重激子的凝聚,因此仍然缺乏确凿的证据。而自旋三重态激子的凝聚是一个很有前途的前沿领域,因为可以观察到自旋超导电流和自旋塞贝克效应。在非常高的磁场下,典型的钴酸盐 LaCoO 是一个很有前途的候选物,但尚未得到验证。在这里,我们使用电磁通量压缩法和最先进的磁致伸缩测量仪,揭示了高达 600 T 的 LaCoO 的奇异相图。我们发现了连续的磁致伸缩曲线和弯曲结构,这表明出现了两个不同的自旋三重态激子凝聚。通过构建一个唯象模型,我们表明激子的量子涨落对于场诱导的连续转变至关重要。钴酸盐中的自旋三重态激子凝聚是三维且热平衡的,为具有自旋超导电流(如自旋约瑟夫森结)的自旋电子技术开辟了一个新的途径。