On Josephson effects in insulating spin systems (Q713275)

The paper proposes an experiment to probe the macroscopic phase coherence in insulating spin systems by observing the ac Josephson effect across a weak link. A successful detection of this effect would represent a direct proof for the existence of a macroscopic quantum state. First, there is a discussion on the macroscopic wavefunction and the chemical potential of a triplet bosonic quasiparticle (triplon) Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) in a magnetic insulator at zero temperature. In the case of an axially symmetric spin system, it is discussed a contrast to the time-dependent global phase of the macroscopic wavefunction and resolving this discrepancy. In order to investigate possible analogues to the dc and ac Josephson effects two condensates are brought into contact. It is considered whether or not the proposed definition of the chemical potential is actually applicable for treating such an experiment correctly. It is shown that a steady non-zero difference between chemical potentials of two BECs can be considered as the analogue to an external voltage controlling the difference between the chemical potentials in a superconducting Josephson junction. Then, the authors consider the Josephson equations for a system of two weakly coupled triplon BECs and show how the ac Josephson effect can be identified in principle. Initially, it is assumed a perfect axial symmetry of the two magnetic systems with respect to the direction of the external magnetic field. Then, the authors discuss several constraints for a system with realistic material parameters. In particular, it is discussed a violation of axial symmetry of the magnetic exchange interaction leading to the occurrence of an anisotropy gap in the energy spectrum. The numerical results are obtained for a model device composed of Ba3Cr2O8 separated by nonmagnetic isostructural Ba3V2O8 from a compound Ba3-xSrxCr2O8. Finally, realistic assumptions are presented that above experiment is indeed feasible.