Low dimensional antiferromagnets for spincaloritronic applications

Spincaloritronics is a relatively new field of research focusing on the interaction of electrical carrier spins with heat current within magnetic materials. Several phenomena such as the Spin Seebeck effect and Anomalous Nernst effect have been observed and this correlation between magnetic, electric and thermal properties is thought to offer an original path to convert waste heat into electricity using thermomagnetic effects in magnetic materials.

Spincaloritronics is driven by the discovery of the spin-dependent Seebeck effect in magnetic materials and non-magnetic semiconductors and the possibility to harvest energy in a new way. The Spin Seebeck effect is the transverse voltage drop measured on a paramagnetic metal in contact with ferromagnetic materials subjected to a temperature gradient and is thought to originate from the conversion of the injected spin current in the metal from the ferromagnet into a voltage by the inverse spin Hall effect. It is clear that the study of thermogalvano-magnetic effects is necessary as the anomalous Nernst effect and spin Seebeck effect may interfere. The spin Seebeck effect has only been measured in relatively few materials and with Pt as an electrode, but it is expected that magnetic oxides presenting strong spin-orbit coupling are expected to produce a large effect.
The project will involve the synthesis of bulk single crystals of low dimensional antiferromagnets, their subsequent in-house characterisation (torque magnetometry, magneto-thermal properties) and the use of central facilities to study their physical properties (neutron scattering) with a view to unravelling potential new phenomena. This project subscribes to a new, exciting and dynamic field of research