Spin Caloritronics Research Articles

Thermal Characterization of Ultrathin MgO Tunnel Barriers.

Magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) with ultrathin MgO tunnel barriers are at the heart of magnetic random-access memory (MRAM) and exhibit potential for spin caloritronics applications due to the tunnel magneto-Seebeck effect. However, the high programming current in MRAM can cause substantial heating which degrades the endurance and reliability of MTJs. Here, we report the thermal characterization of ultrathin CoFeB/MgO multilayers with total thicknesses of 4.4, 8.8, 22, and 44 nm, and with varying MgO thicknesses (1.0, 1.3, and 1.6 nm). Through time-domain thermoreflectance (TDTR) measurements and thermal modeling, we extract the intrinsic (∼3.6 W m-1 K-1) and effective (∼0.85 W m-1 K-1) thermal conductivities of annealed 1.0 nm thick MgO at room temperature. Our study reveals the thermal properties of ultrathin MgO tunnel barriers, especially the role of thermal boundary resistance, and contributes to a more precise thermal analysis of MTJs to improve the design and reliability of MRAM technologies.

Enhancement of Transverse Thermoelectric Conversion by Interface‐Induced Spin Current in Ferromagnetic Metal/Nonmagnetic Insulator Hybrid‐Structure

AbstractTransverse thermoelectric conversion phenomena including the anomalous Ettingshausen effect (AEE) and anomalous Nernst effect (ANE) in magnetic materials are actively investigated to realize versatile cooling and energy harvesting technologies. However, further improvement of the thermoelectric performance of AEE and ANE is still required, and most research efforts have focused on material exploration. Here, a new approach to improve the transverse thermoelectric conversion performance through interface engineering is reported by focusing on the transverse thermoelectric phenomena that output heat currents. A longitudinal charge current in a ferromagnetic metal Ni/nonmagnetic insulator Bi2WO6 hybrid‐structure induces a larger transverse heat current than that of AEE in a Ni single‐layer. It is indicated that the enhancement of the transverse thermoelectric conversion is due to the generation of a heat current concomitant with a spin current induced at the Ni/Bi2WO6 interface. This finding demonstrates that the interface of a magnetic metal/nonmagnetic insulator has a potential to improve the transverse thermoelectric performance, extending the applicability of nonmagnetic insulators to the field of spin caloritronics and thermoelectrics.

Thermoelectric Phenomena in a Magnetic Heterostructure with AAH Modulation: Charge and Spin Figure of Merits

ABSTRACT We put forward a prescription of getting a higher value of the spin-dependent figure of merit in comparison with its charge counterpart in the case of a 1D magnetic heterostructure (a ferromagnetic (FM) chain sandwiched between two non-magnetic 1D lattices) where all the site energies of the heterostructure follow cosine form of modulation defined in Aubry-Andre-Harper (AAH) model. It is shown that due to having a greater number of non-uniform peaks in its transmission spectra, the thermoelectric efficiency of this heterostructure becomes superior compared to that is obtained in a fully ferromagnetic 1D chain. It is also reported that the maximum value of the thermoelectric figure of merit (for both spin and charge-dependent cases) of the heterostructure in a specified energy range gets enhanced in a continuous manner as the disorder strength of the AAH modulation is increased. The Hamiltonian of the proposed quantum system is described within a tight-binding (TB) framework and after the evaluation of transmission probability by utilizing the non-equilibrium Green’s function (NEGF) technique, all the important thermoelectric quantities are determined on the basis of Landauer formalism. We believe that our study on this particular topic of spin caloritronics, a subject associated with temperature-dependent spin transmission through a quantum channel, may help to explore several fascinating ideas about spin-related thermoelectric efficiency in many other ferromagnetic quasicrystals.

Creation of flexible spin-caloritronic material with giant transverse thermoelectric conversion by nanostructure engineering

Functional materials such as magnetic, thermoelectric, and battery materials have been revolutionized through nanostructure engineering. However, spin caloritronics, an advancing field based on spintronics and thermoelectrics with fundamental physics studies, has focused only on uniform materials without complex microstructures. Here, we show how nanostructure engineering enables transforming simple magnetic alloys into spin-caloritronic materials displaying significantly large transverse thermoelectric conversion properties. The anomalous Nernst effect, a promising transverse thermoelectric phenomenon for energy harvesting and heat sensing, has been challenging to utilize due to the scarcity of materials with large anomalous Nernst coefficients. We demonstrate a remarkable ~ 70% improvement in the anomalous Nernst coefficients (reaching ~ 3.7 µVK−1) and a significant ~ 200% enhancement in the power factor (reaching ~ 7.7 µWm−1K−2) in flexible Fe-based amorphous materials by nanostructure engineering without changing their composition. This surpasses all reported amorphous alloys and is comparable to single crystals showing large anomalous Nernst effect. The enhancement is attributed to Cu nano-clustering, facilitating efficient transverse thermoelectric conversion. This discovery advances the materials science of spin caloritronics, opening new avenues for designing high-performance transverse thermoelectric devices for practical applications.

Crystal Thermal Transport in Altermagnetic RuO_{2}.

We demonstrate the emergence of a pronounced thermal transport in the recently discovered class of magnetic materials-altermagnets. From symmetry arguments and first-principles calculations performed for the showcase altermagnet, RuO_{2}, we uncover that crystal Nernst and crystal thermal Hall effects in this material are very large and strongly anisotropic with respect to the Néel vector. We find the large crystal thermal transport to originate from three sources of Berry's curvature in momentum space: the Weyl fermions due to crossings between well-separated bands, the strong spin-flip pseudonodal surfaces, and the weak spin-flip ladder transitions, defined by transitions among very weakly spin-split states of similar dispersion crossing the Fermi surface. Moreover, we reveal that the anomalous thermal and electrical transport coefficients in RuO_{2} are linked by an extended Wiedemann-Franz law in a temperature range much wider than expected for conventional magnets. Our results suggest that altermagnets may assume a leading role in realizing concepts in spin caloritronics not achievable with ferromagnets or antiferromagnets.

Large Thermal Hall Effect in Spinel FeCr2$_2$S4$_4$

AbstractThe thermal Hall effect (THE) is an important experimental probe of band topology and elementary excitations. Here, a large thermal Hall angle (THA) κxy/κxx ≈ 7 × 10−3 discovered so far in ferrimagnetic spinel FeCr2S4 and a large thermal Hall conductivity (κxy) discovered first in spinel structure and reaching a magnitude of at 50 K with a small magnetic field of 0.1 T are reported. These results suggest the emergence of nontrivial topological excitations in FeCr2S4. A large THA in spin caloritronics devices means that a small number of excitations can produce a large transverse signal. FeCr2S4 is therefore a potential platform for spintronics‐magnonics applications, and may enhance the knowledge of the thermal Hall effect.

Charge and spin thermoelectric transport in benzene-based molecular nano-junctions: a quantum many-body study.

Within the Coulomb blockade regime, our study delves into the charge, spin, and thermoelectric transport characteristics of a benzene-based molecular nano-junction using the Pauli master equation and linear response theory. The charge- and spin-transport studies show strong negative differential conductance features in the current-voltage (I-V) characteristics for the ortho and meta connections of electrodes on either side. Contrarily, the para-connection displays Coulomb staircase behavior. By exploring spin current behavior in the presence of spin-polarized electrodes or an external Zeeman field, we establish a methodology that facilitates precise control over the specific spin flow. Various charge and spin thermoelectric transport coefficients have been studied with varying chemical potentials. We focus on spin-polarized conductance, the Seebeck coefficient, and the figure of merit. By adjusting electrode polarization or employing an external magnetic field, we achieve an impressive peak value for the spin thermoelectric figure of merit, approximately 4.10. This outcome underscores the strategic value of harnessing both spin-polarized electrodes and external magnetic fields within the domain of spin caloritronics.

Observation of the Anisotropic Magneto-Thomson Effect.

We report the observation of the anisotropic magneto-Thomson effect (AMTE), which is one of the higher-order thermoelectric effects in a ferromagnet. Using lock-in thermography, we demonstrated that in a ferromagnetic NiPt alloy, the cooling or heating induced by the Thomson effect depends on the angle between the magnetization direction and the temperature gradient or charge current applied to the alloy. AMTE observed here is the missing ferromagnetic analog of the magneto-Thomson effect in a nonmagnetic conductor, providing the basis for nonlinear spin caloritronics and thermoelectrics.

Spin-related thermoelectricity in a hybrid Aharonov–Bohm interferometer with the Rashba effect

In order to explore the interplay among heat, charge, and spin, we investigate the spin-related thermoelectricity of a hybrid double quantum dot Aharonov–Bohm interferometer with Rashba spin–orbit coupling (RSOC). Interestingly, the nonzero RSOC phase difference can induce significant spin-dependent thermoelectric transport. Not only can the strong violation of the Wiedemann-Franz law be obtained, but also a pure spin-Seebeck effect can be produced, which may serve as a pure spin-current generator. The influence of system parameters on thermoelectric coefficients (especially for spin counterparts) are analyzed in detail, and the underlying physics is further elucidated. Furthermore, the spin figure of merit can be much larger than the charge one, which, thus, provides a realistic possibility of engineering spin thermoelectric devices with high performance. These results obtained may be of interest for developing spin thermoelectric devices in the field of spin caloritronics.

Vector spin Seebeck effect and spin swapping effect in antiferromagnetic insulators with non-collinear spin structure

Antiferromagnets (AFs) are prospective for next-generation high-density and high-speed spintronic applications due to their negligible stray field and ultrafast spin dynamics, notwithstanding the challenges in detecting and manipulating AF order with no magnetization (M = 0). Among the AFs, non-collinear AFs are of particular interest because of their unique properties arising from the non-collinear spin structure and the small magnetization M. In this work, we describe the recently observed vector spin Seebeck effect in non-collinear LuFeO3, where the magneto-thermovoltage under an in-plane temperature gradient, not previously observed, is consistent with the predicted spin swapping effect. Our results shed light on the importance of the non-collinear spin structure in the emerging spin phenomena in non-collinear AFs and offer a new class of materials for AF spintronics and spin caloritronics.

Electrical and Thermal Bias‐Driven Negative Magnetoresistance Effect in an Interacting Quantum Dot

Spin‐dependent electron transport is theoretically studied for a system with an interacting quantum dot sandwiched between a pair of ferromagnetic electrodes. By separately applying an electrical bias or a temperature gradient across the junction, a spin‐polarized current can be obtained and controlled by tuning the gate voltage. Interestingly, regardless of whether the electron transport is driven by the bias voltage or temperature difference, the current in the device always exhibits negative magnetoresistance under the control of the gate voltage. Such magnetoresistance anomalies in the current profile originate from the spin‐selective tunneling channels in quantum dots, which have been proven experimentally feasible. This device scheme is compatible with current technologies and has potential applications in spintronics or spin caloritronics.

Edge passivation oxidation-enhanced spin caloritronics in zigzag blue phosphorus nanoribbons

In this study, the spin caloritronics of zigzag blue phosphorus nanoribbons (ZBPNRs) with edge hydrogenation and oxidation were studied using first-principles calculations and the non-equilibrium Green’s function method. Three different cases were considered: two edges of the ZBPNR were oxidized (2O-ZBPNR) and hydrogenated (2H-ZBPNR), one edge was oxidized, and the other was hydrogenated (HO-ZBPNR). Our results show that a perfect thermal spin filtering effect (SFE) and a negative differential thermoelectric resistance (NDTR) can be observed in structures with both 2O-ZBPNR and HO-ZBPNR, whereas these features were not found for 2H-ZBPNR. Furthermore, we confirmed that edge oxygen atoms in ZBPNRs offer different transport pathways for spin-up and spin-down states, leading to thermal SFE, and devices with oxygen-passivated ZBPNRs exhibited strong spin figures of merit (∼38) and large spin Seebeck coefficients (∼9 mV K−1).

Spin-dependent thermoelectric transport properties of Cr-doped blue phosphorene

We systematically investigate the thermoelectric (TE) properties of the Cr-doped blue phosphorene (blue-P) along the armchair and zigzag directions. First, we find the semiconducting band structure of the blue-P will become spin-polarized due to the Cr-doping, and can be seriously changed by the doping concentration. Then we show the Seebeck coefficient, the electronic conductance, the thermal conductance, and the figures of merit ZTs are all dependent on the transport directions and doping concentration. However, two pairs of the peaks of the charge and spin ZTs can be always observed with the low-height (high-height) pair on the side of the negative (positive) Fermi energy. In addition, at temperature 300 K the extrema of the charge (spin) ZTs of the blue-P along the two directions are kept to be larger than 22 (90) for the different doping concentrations and will be further enhanced at lower temperature. Therefore, we believe the Cr-doped blue-P should be a versatile high-performance TE material which may be used in the fields of the thermorelectrics and spin caloritronics.

Spin Seebeck effect and thermal properties of zigzag graphene nanoribbons with edge magnetism

Zigzag graphene nanoribbons (GNRs), demonstrating edge magnetism, are fascinating materials for electronic and spintronic applications. In this paper, we investigate with explicit consideration of electron-phonon scattering the Seebeck effect and thermal conductivity at various carrier densities in zigzag GNRs, which undergo antiferromagnetic, ferromagnetic, and paramagnetic transitions. Seebeck coefficients are spin dependent in ferromagnetic zigzag GNRs and can have opposite signs for the majority and the minority spin carriers, which enables the separation of spin carriers spatially under a thermal gradient. The electronic thermal conductivity is small compared to the lattice thermal conductivity, except for GNRs in the ferromagnetic state. A 100% increase in thermal conductivity is expected at antiferromagnetic to ferromagnetic transition. These results demonstrate that zigzag GNRs are also materials of high interest for spin caloritronics.

Tuning terahertz emission generated by anomalous Nernst effect in ferromagnetic metal

Despite intensive research, the mechanism determining the terahertz (THz) emission of the ferromagnetic (FM) metallic monolayers remains elusive. Here, we report on the results of a systematic investigation on the THz emission generated by pumping Ni80Fe20 monolayers on Al2O3 substrates with a femtosecond laser. We found solid evidence that the THz emission is dominated by the anomalous Nernst effect (ANE), in which a transient spin-polarized charge current can be induced by an ultrafast electron temperature gradient on the picosecond timescale, outputting THz emission. We found a polarity reversal of the THz waveform after the introduction of a SiO2 buffer layer to the sample and found that, based on ultrafast temperature simulation, it was a consequence of direction reversal of temperature gradient. Comparing the THz emission of different FM monolayers further confirms that the THz polarity also strongly depends on the sign of the ANE coefficient. These phenomena unambiguously indicate that the ANE plays a decisive role in the process of THz emission. The present work shows the importance of ultrafast spin caloritronics for a spintronic THz emitter. The principle demonstrated here can be applied to other FM metallic materials.

Coherent antiferromagnetic spintronics.

Antiferromagnets have attracted extensive interest as a material platform in spintronics. So far, antiferromagnet-enabled spin-orbitronics, spin-transfer electronics and spin caloritronics have formed the bases of antiferromagnetic spintronics. Spin transport and manipulation based on coherent antiferromagnetic dynamics have recently emerged, pushing the developing field of antiferromagnetic spintronics towards a new stage distinguished by the features of spin coherence. In this Review, we categorize and analyse the critical effects that harness the coherence of antiferromagnets for spintronic applications, including spin pumping from monochromatic antiferromagnetic magnons, spin transmission via phase-correlated antiferromagnetic magnons, electrically induced spin rotation and ultrafast spin-orbit effects in antiferromagnets. We also discuss future opportunities in research and applications stimulated by the principles, materials and phenomena of coherent antiferromagnetic spintronics.

Chiral-phonon-activated spin Seebeck effect.

Utilization of the interaction between spin and heat currents is the central focus of the field of spin caloritronics. Chiral phonons possessing angular momentum arising from the broken symmetry of a non-magnetic material create the potential for generating spin currents at room temperature in response to a thermal gradient, precluding the need for a ferromagnetic contact. Here we show the observation of spin currents generated by chiral phonons in a two-dimensional layered hybrid organic-inorganic perovskite implanted with chiral cations when subjected to a thermal gradient. The generated spin current shows a strong dependence on the chirality of the film and external magnetic fields, of which the coefficient is orders of magnitude larger than that produced by the reported spin Seebeck effect. Our findings indicate the potential of chiral phonons for spin caloritronic applications and offer a new route towards spin generation in the absence of magnetic materials.

Reciprocity relations for mechanically induced spin currents in metals in a nonlinear regime

In the Markov relaxation and locally quasi-equilibrium distribution approximation, analogues of Onzager's relations for the response functions of the spin current in the nonlinear by intense mechanical and thermodynamic effects regime were obtained by the Kubo method. Keywords: locally quasi-equilibrium distribution, spin Hamiltonian, spin current, nonlinearity, reciprocity, streintronics, spin caloritronics, Peltier spin effect, Zeebeck spin effect.

Low-Cost Instrument for the Versatile Measurement of Spin Caloritronic Phenomena: Spin Seebeck Effect, Anisotropic Magnetoresistance, Anomalous Hall Effect, and Anomalous Nernst Effect

In this article, we report on a low-cost instrument for the versatile measurement of spin Caloritronics phenomena such as the spin Seebeck effect (SSE), anomalous Nernst effect (ANE) anisotropic magnetoresistance (AMR) and anomalous Hall effect (AHE). Solenoid coils provide a uniform variable magnetic field while the sample was sandwiched between thermal baths and measured in a vacuum chamber. Our results show excellent magnetic field uniformity (± 0.37 mT) within the magnet gap and high stability of the generated temperature difference (± 0.07 K). For verifying the effectiveness of our instrument, YIG/Co structure was used to measure the SSE, AMR, and AHE, while a SiO <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sub> /Co structure was used for measuring the ANE. Our SSE measurements of the YIG/Co structure were found to be comparable with that of a commercially available instrument. We can therefore conclude that our low-cost and versatile instrument can be used to effectively observe spin Caloritronics phenomena.

Theoretical study of Cr2X3S3 (X = Br, I) monolayers for thermoelectric and spin caloritronics properties

High curie temperature 2D materials are important for the progress of the field of spin caloritronics. The spin Seebeck effect and conventional thermoelectric figure of merit (ZT) can give a great insight into how these 2D magnetic materials will perform in spin caloritronics applications. Here in this paper, we have systematically studied 2D Janus monolayers based on CrX3 monolayers. We obtain a ZT of 0.31 and 0.21 for the Cr2Br3S3 and Cr2I3S3 Janus monolayers. The spin Seebeck coefficient obtained at room temperature is also very high (∼1570 μVK−1 in the hole-doped region and ∼1590 μ VK−1 in the electron-doped region). The thermal conductivity of these monolayers (∼22 Wm−1 K−1 for Cr2Br3S3 and ∼16 Wm−1 K−1 for Cr2I3S3) are also very similar to other 2D semiconductor transition metals chalcogenides. These findings suggest a high potential for these monolayers in the spin caloritronics field.