Spin thermoelectric effects of skyrmions in ferromagnetic topological insulators

Abstract

The thermoelectric effects of ferromagnetic topological insulators with either two-dimensional circular or one-dimensional domain wall skyrmions are studied theoretically. It is found that the topological spin-textures play a significant role in the manipulation of spin-dependent thermoelectric properties. In the vicinity of the charge neutrality point, spin Seebeck coefficients possess finite values whose sign and magnitude can be tuned by temperature in spite of vanishing charge Seebeck coefficients. The majority of the effects of circular skyrmions occurs in the edge-state transport regime by generating Fano antiresonances. While the domain wall skyrmion primarily influences the thermoelectric behaviors near the boundary between the edge-state and bulk-state transport regimes with the resonant tunneling mechanism. Both types of skyrmions which function effectively in distinct transport regimes have potential applications in thermoelectrics.