Vortex-mediated spin current injection into two-dimensional superconductor NbSe ₂
- 1Department of Physics, State Key Laboratory of Quantum Functional Materials, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, China.
- 2Quantum Science Center of Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay Area (Guangdong), Shenzhen 518045, China.
- 3Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Advanced Thermoelectric Materials and Device Physics, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, 518055, China.
Abstract
Injection of pure spin current into superconductors remains a major challenge in superconducting spintronics. Previous studies have primarily focused on spin-polarized quasiparticles and spin-triplet supercurrents, while vortices-ubiquitous topological defects in type-II superconductors-have been theoretically proposed as alternative carriers of spin angular momentum, yet direct experimental evidence is still lacking. Here, we report the vortex-mediated spin current injection in NbSe₂/LiAl₂Fe₃O₈(LAFO) bilayer, an Ising superconductor/ferrimagnetic insulator heterostructure. Under an out-of-plane temperature gradient and an in-plane magnetic field, the NbSe₂/LAFO bilayer shows a pronounced thermoelectric peak near the upper critical magnetic field, which has the opposite sign to the conventional vortex Nernst signal observed in a single-layer NbSe₂. The sign reversal suggests that the vortex flow induced by spin current injection is opposite to the flow driven by the temperature gradient, which is consistent with theoretical mechanisms including spin-vorticity transmutation and the inverse vortex spin Hall effect. By mapping the field-temperature phase diagram, we reveal that the spin current injection occurs exclusively in the vortex liquid phase of NbSe₂. Absence of the thermoelectric signal above the superconducting transition temperature further rules out the quasiparticle contribution. Our results establish vortices as efficient carriers of spin information in superconductors, opening a new route towards vortex-mediated superconducting spintronic devices.
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BibTeX
@article{yang2026vortexmediated,
title = {{Vortex-mediated spin current injection into two-dimensional superconductor NbSe ₂}},
author = {Meng Yang and Xiaolong Yin and Jingjing Liu and Yifeng Chen and Qinwu Gao and Hongxing Zhu and Danni Huang and Lang Chen and Shuo-Ying Yang and Junxue Li},
journal = {Science Advances},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1126/sciadv.aeh1582},
url = {https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.aeh1582},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Vortex-mediated spin current injection into two-dimensional superconductor NbSe ₂
AU - Meng Yang
AU - Xiaolong Yin
AU - Jingjing Liu
AU - Yifeng Chen
AU - Qinwu Gao
AU - Hongxing Zhu
AU - Danni Huang
AU - Lang Chen
AU - Shuo-Ying Yang
AU - Junxue Li
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/21
JO - Science Advances
DO - 10.1126/sciadv.aeh1582
UR - https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.aeh1582
AB - Injection of pure spin current into superconductors remains a major challenge in superconducting spintronics. Previous studies have primarily focused on spin-polarized quasiparticles and spin-triplet supercurrents, while vortices-ubiquitous topological defects in type-II superconductors-have been theoretically proposed as alternative carriers of spin angular momentum, yet direct experimental evidence is still lacking. Here, we report the vortex-mediated spin current injection in NbSe₂/LiAl₂Fe₃O₈(LAFO) bilayer, an Ising superconductor/ferrimagnetic insulator heterostructure. Under an out-of-plane temperature gradient and an in-plane magnetic field, the NbSe₂/LAFO bilayer shows a pronounced thermoelectric peak near the upper critical magnetic field, which has the opposite sign to the conventional vortex Nernst signal observed in a single-layer NbSe₂. The sign reversal suggests that the vortex flow induced by spin current injection is opposite to the flow driven by the temperature gradient, which is consistent with theoretical mechanisms including spin-vorticity transmutation and the inverse vortex spin Hall effect. By mapping the field-temperature phase diagram, we reveal that the spin current injection occurs exclusively in the vortex liquid phase of NbSe₂. Absence of the thermoelectric signal above the superconducting transition temperature further rules out the quasiparticle contribution. Our results establish vortices as efficient carriers of spin information in superconductors, opening a new route towards vortex-mediated superconducting spintronic devices.
SN - 2375-2548
ER -