Magnetocaloritronic nanomachines

ORAL

Abstract

We introduce and study a magnetocaloritronic circuit element based on a domain wall that can move under applied voltage, magnetic field and temperature gradient. We draw analogies between the Carnot machines and possible devices employing such a circuit element. We propose a realization of magnetocaloritronic cooling and point out the parallels between the operational principles of magnetocaloritronic and thermoelectric cooling and power generation. Following this analogy, we introduce a magnetocaloritronic figure of merit that encodes information about the maximum efficiency of such devices. Even though the magnetocaloritronic figure of merit turns out to be very small for transition-metal based magnets, we speculate that larger numbers may be expected in ferromagnetic insulators.

*This work was supported in part by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, DARPA and NSF under Grant No. DMR-0840965

Authors

  • Alexey A. Kovalev

    • Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Los Angeles
  • Yaroslav Tserkovnyak

    • Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Los Angeles