Observation of the spin Nernst effect
S Meyer (Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Technische Universität München)
Y. Chen (RIKEN Center for Emergent Matter Science (CEMS), Kavli institute of nanoscience Delft, TU Delft - QN/Nazarov Group)
S. Wimmer (Ludwig Maximilians University)
M Althammer (Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften)
T. Wimmer (Technische Universität München, Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften)
Richard Schlitz (Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften)
S Geprags (Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften)
H Huebl (Nanosystems Initiative Munich (NIM), Technische Universität München, Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften)
D. Kodderitzsch (Ludwig Maximilians University)
H. Ebert (Ludwig Maximilians University)
G. E.W. Bauer (Kavli institute of nanoscience Delft, TU Delft - QN/Bauer Group, Tohoku University)
R Gross (Nanosystems Initiative Munich (NIM), Technische Universität München, Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften)
S. T.B. Goennenwein (Nanosystems Initiative Munich (NIM), Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Technische Universität München)
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Abstract
The observation of the spin Hall effect triggered intense research on pure spin current transport. With the spin Hall effect, the spin Seebeck effect and the spin Peltier effect already observed, our picture of pure spin current transport is almost complete. The only missing piece is the spin Nernst (-Ettingshausen) effect, which so far has been discussed only on theoretical grounds. Here, we report the observation of the spin Nernst effect. By applying a longitudinal temperature gradient, we generate a pure transverse spin current in a Pt thin film. For readout, we exploit the magnetization-orientation-dependent spin transfer to an adjacent yttrium iron garnet layer, converting the spin Nernst current in Pt into a controlled change of the longitudinal and transverse thermopower voltage. Our experiments show that the spin Nernst and the spin Hall effect in Pt are of comparable magnitude, but differ in sign, as corroborated by first-principles calculations.