Direct detection of spin Nernst effect in platinum

Abstract

Generation of spin current lies at the heart of spintronic research. The spin Hall effect and the spin Seebeck effect have drawn considerable attention in the last few years to create pure spin current by heavy metals and ferromagnets, respectively. In this work, we show the direct evidence of heat current to spin current conversion in non-magnetic Platinum by the spin Nernst effect (SNE) at room temperature. This is the thermal analogue of the spin Hall effect in non-magnets. We have shown that the 8 K/μm thermal gradient in Pt can lead to the generation of pure spin current density of the order of 108 A/m2 by virtue of SNE. This opens up an additional possibility to couple the relativistic spin-orbit interaction with the thermal gradient for spintronic applications.