Spin Nernst effect in a topological insulator Bi<sub>2</sub>Se<sub>3</sub>
ORAL
Abstract
Spin currents can be generated by application of a charge current in a heavy metal or topological insulator, allowing the production of spin-orbit torques. Here we investigate the generation of spin currents due to a thermal gradient, rather than an applied charge current. We study bilayers made from thin films of the topological insulator Bi2Se3 with CoFeB, apply a thermal gradient using an adjacent heater, and measure voltage signals arising from spin currents via the inverse spin Hall effect. We observe spin-current generation that is almost an order of magnitude more efficient than in previous measurements of thermally-induced spin currents for W and Pt-based samples.
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This work made use of the Cornell Center for Materials Research Shared Facilities which are supported through the NSF MRSEC program (DMR-1719875) and in part at the Cornell NanoScale Facility, a member of the National Nanotechnology Coordinated Infrastructure (NNCI), which is supported by the National Science Foundation (Grant NNCI-2025233). We also acknowledge support from the Penn State 2DCC-MIP under NSF Grant No. DMR-1539916 and the Department of Energy under Grant no. DE-SC0017671.
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Presenters
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Rakshit Jain
- Cornell University