The spin chemical potential characterizes the tendency of spins to diffuse. Probing this quantity could provide insight into materials such as magnetic insulators and spin liquids and aid optimization of spintronic devices. Here we introduce single-spin magnetometry as a generic platform for nonperturbative, nanoscale characterization of spin chemical potentials. We experimentally realize this platform using diamond nitrogen-vacancy centers and use it to investigate magnons in a magnetic insulator, finding that the magnon chemical potential can be controlled by driving the system's ferromagnetic resonance. We introduce a symmetry-based two-fluid theory describing the underlying magnon processes, measure the local thermomagnonic torque, and illustrate the detection sensitivity using electrically controlled spin injection. Our results pave the way for nanoscale control and imaging of spin transport in mesoscopic systems.
We observe highly efficient dynamic spin injection from Y 3 Fe 5 O 12 (YIG) into NiO, an antiferromagnetic (AF) insulator, via strong coupling, and robust spin propagation in NiO up to 100-nm thickness mediated by its AF spin correlations. Strikingly, the insertion of a thin NiO layer between YIG and Pt significantly enhances the spin currents driven into Pt, suggesting exceptionally high spin transfer efficiency at both YIG/NiO and NiO/Pt interfaces. This offers a powerful platform for studying AF spin pumping and AF dynamics as well as for exploration of spin manipulation in tailored structures comprising metallic and insulating ferromagnets, antiferromagnets and nonmagnetic materials.
We report a systematic study of spin transport in antiferromagnetic (AF) insulators having a wide range of ordering temperatures. Spin current is dynamically injected from Y 3 Fe 5 O 12 (YIG) into various AF insulators in Pt/insulator/YIG trilayers. Robust, long-distance spin transport in the AF insulators is observed, which shows strong correlation with the AF ordering temperatures.We find a striking linear relationship between the spin decay length in the AFs and the damping enhancement in YIG, suggesting the critical role of magnetic correlations in the AF insulators as well as at the AF/YIG interfaces for spin transport in magnetic insulators.
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