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Local Charge and Spin Currents in Magnetothermal Landscapes

Mathias Weiler, Matthias Althammer, Franz D. Czeschka, Hans Huebl, Martin S. Wagner, Matthias Opel, Inga-Mareen Imort, Günter Reiss, Andy Thomas, Rudolf Gross, and Sebastian T. B. Goennenwein
Phys. Rev. Lett. 108, 106602 – Published 5 March 2012
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Abstract

A scannable laser beam is used to generate local thermal gradients in metallic (Co2FeAl) or insulating (Y3Fe5O12) ferromagnetic thin films. We study the resulting local charge and spin currents that arise due to the anomalous Nernst effect (ANE) and the spin Seebeck effect (SSE), respectively. In the local ANE experiments, we detect the voltage in the Co2FeAl thin film plane as a function of the laser-spot position and external magnetic field magnitude and orientation. The local SSE effect is detected in a similar fashion by exploiting the inverse spin Hall effect in a Pt layer deposited on top of the Y3Fe5O12. Our findings establish local thermal spin and charge current generation as well as spin caloritronic domain imaging.

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  • Received 18 October 2011

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.108.106602

© 2012 American Physical Society

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Published 5 March 2012

Local laser heating is used to image thermally driven spin currents and voltages.

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Authors & Affiliations

Mathias Weiler1, Matthias Althammer1, Franz D. Czeschka1, Hans Huebl1, Martin S. Wagner1, Matthias Opel1, Inga-Mareen Imort2, Günter Reiss2, Andy Thomas2, Rudolf Gross1,3, and Sebastian T. B. Goennenwein1,*

  • 1Walther-Meißner-Institut, Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften, 85748 Garching, Germany
  • 2Fakultät für Physik, Universität Bielefeld, 33615 Bielefeld, Germany
  • 3Physik-Department, Technische Universität München, 85748 Garching, Germany

  • *goennenwein@wmi.badw.de

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Issue

Vol. 108, Iss. 10 — 9 March 2012

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