Field-induced bound-state condensation and spin-nematic phase in SrCu 2 (BO 3 ) 2 revealed by neutron scattering up to 25.9 T

In quantum magnetic materials, ordered phases induced by an applied magnetic field can be described as the Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) of magnon excitations. In the strongly frustrated system SrCu 2 (BO 3 ) 2 , no clear magnon BEC could be observed, pointing to an alternative mechanism, but the high fields required to probe this physics have remained a barrier to detailed investigation. Here we exploit the first purpose-built high-field neutron scattering facility to measure the spin excitations of SrCu 2 (BO 3 ) 2 up to 25.9 T and use cylinder matrix-product-states (MPS) calculations to reproduce the experimental spectra with high accuracy. Multiple unconventional features point to a condensation of S = 2 bound states into a spin-nematic phase, including the gradients of the one-magnon branches and the persistence of a one-magnon spin gap. This gap reflects a direct analogy with superconductivity, suggesting that the spin-nematic phase in SrCu 2 (BO 3 ) 2 is best understood as a condensate of bosonic Cooper pairs.