Quantum coherence due to Bose–Einstein condensation of parametrically driven magnons

The room-temperature kinetics and thermodynamics of the magnon gas driven by microwave pumping has been investigated by means of the Brillouin light scattering (BLS) technique. We show that for high enough pumping powers the quantum relaxation of the driven gas results in a quasi-equilibrium state described by the Bose–Einstein statistics with a nonzero chemical potential. Further increase of the pumping power causes a Bose–Einstein condensation in the magnon gas documented by an observation of the magnon accumulation at the lowest energy level. Using the sensitivity of the BLS to the coherence degree of the scattering magnons, we confirm the spontaneous emergence of coherence of the magnons accumulated at the bottom of the spectrum, if their density exceeds a critical value.