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Spin Seebeck insulator

Nature Materials volume 9, pages 894–897 (2010)Cite this article

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Abstract

Thermoelectric generation is an essential function in future energy-saving technologies1,2. However, it has so far been an exclusive feature of electric conductors, a situation which limits its application; conduction electrons are often problematic in the thermal design of devices. Here we report electric voltage generation from heat flowing in an insulator. We reveal that, despite the absence of conduction electrons, the magnetic insulator LaY2Fe5O12 can convert a heat flow into a spin voltage. Attached Pt films can then transform this spin voltage into an electric voltage as a result of the inverse spin Hall effect3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12. The experimental results require us to introduce a thermally activated interface spin exchange between LaY2Fe5O12 and Pt. Our findings extend the range of potential materials for thermoelectric applications and provide a crucial piece of information for understanding the physics of the spin Seebeck effect13.

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Figure 1: Seebeck and spin Seebeck effects.
Figure 2: Measurements of thermal voltage generation.
Figure 3: Spatial distribution.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank B. J. van Wees, K. Sato, Y. Suzuki, G. Tatara, W. Koshibae, K. M. Itoh, and M. Matoba for valuable discussions. This work was supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research in Priority Area ’Creation and control of spin current’ (19048009, 19048028), a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research A (21244058), the Global COE for the ’Materials Integration International Centre of Education and Research’ all from MEXT, Japan, a Grant for Industrial Technology Research from NEDO, Japan, Fundamental Research Grants from CREST-JST, PRESTO-JST, TRF, and TUIAREO, Japan, the Dutch FOM foundation, EC Contract IST-033749 ‘DynaMax’, and National Natural Science Foundation of China (10944004).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Materials Research, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8577, Japan

    K. Uchida, S. Takahashi, T. Ota, Y. Kajiwara & E. Saitoh

  2. Department of Physics and State Key Laboratory of Surface Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China

    J. Xiao

  3. Kavli Institute of NanoScience, Delft University of Technology, 2628 CJ Delft, The Netherlands

    J. Xiao & G. E. W. Bauer

  4. Advanced Science Research Center, Japan Atomic Energy Agency, Tokai 319-1195, Japan

    H. Adachi, J. Ohe, J. Ieda, S. Maekawa & E. Saitoh

  5. CREST, Japan Science and Technology Agency, Sanbancho, Tokyo 102-0075, Japan

    H. Adachi, J. Ohe, S. Takahashi, J. Ieda & S. Maekawa

  6. FDK Corporation, Shizuoka 431-0495, Japan

    H. Umezawa & H. Kawai

  7. PRESTO, Japan Science and Technology Agency, Sanbancho, Tokyo 102-0075, Japan

    E. Saitoh

Authors
  1. K. Uchida
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  12. S. Maekawa
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  13. E. Saitoh
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Contributions

K.U. designed the experiment, collected all of the data, and performed analysis of the data. E.S. planned and supervised the study. K.U., H.U. and H.K. fabricated the samples. T.O. and Y.K. supported the experiments. J.X., H.A., J.O., S.T., J.I., G.E.W.B. and S.M. developed the explanation of the experiment. K.U., J.X., H.A., G.E.W.B. and E.S. wrote the manuscript. All authors discussed the results and commented on the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to E. Saitoh.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Uchida, K., Xiao, J., Adachi, H. et al. Spin Seebeck insulator. Nature Mater 9, 894–897 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat2856

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