Magnon Diffusion Lengths in Bulk and Thin Film Fe3O4 for Spin Seebeck Applications

Abstract

The spin Seebeck effect (SSE) is defined as the generation of a pure spin current (Js) when a magnetised material is subjected to a temperature gradient .[1] To detect Js, a thin non-magnetic [NM] layer such as Pt, is deposited on top of the material of interest. This converts Js into an observable thermoelectric voltage (VSSE) by way of the Inverse Spin Hall Effect (ISHE). It is of interest for thermoelectric and spintronic applications where it could be used to harvest electricity, or produce a pure spin current, respectively. The spin Seebeck effect can be phonon or magnon driven, therefore investigating the thermomagnetic voltage VSSE as a function of temperature can enable separation of these contributions – particularly in non-insulating materials such as Fe3O4 which undergoes a semiconductor-insulator phase transition at approximately 120 K.[2],[3] We have developed a measurement of VSSE as a function of temperature using the heat flux method [4][5], which enables accurate measurement of thin film samples. We will show how this technique can be used to investigate subtle changes in the SSE as a function of temperature and correlate this with measurement of the magnon dispersion in single crystal Fe3O4 using time of flight (TOF) inelastic neutron scattering (INS). We find an upper limit of the magnon diffusion length (MDL) of 34 ± 7 nm determined from bulk INS (Figure 1). Corresponding SSE measurements of Fe3O4 thin films as a function of thickness indicate an MDL of 19 ± 2 nm, which does not change significantly between 300 and 50 K.[6] We also find that the low energy magnon modes are steeper than previously reported[7] and broaden with increasing temperature (Figure 2).