123 research outputs found
Seebeck Effect in Magnetic Tunnel Junctions
Creating temperature gradients in magnetic nanostructures has resulted in a
new research direction, i.e., the combination of magneto- and thermoelectric
effects. Here, we demonstrate the observation of one important effect of this
class: the magneto-Seebeck effect. It is observed when a magnetic configuration
changes the charge based Seebeck coefficient. In particular, the Seebeck
coefficient changes during the transition from a parallel to an antiparallel
magnetic configuration in a tunnel junction. In that respect, it is the analog
to the tunneling magnetoresistance. The Seebeck coefficients in parallel and
antiparallel configuration are in the order of the voltages known from the
charge-Seebeck effect. The size and sign of the effect can be controlled by the
composition of the electrodes' atomic layers adjacent to the barrier and the
temperature. Experimentally, we realized 8.8 % magneto-Seebeck effect, which
results from a voltage change of about -8.7 {\mu}V/K from the antiparallel to
the parallel direction close to the predicted value of -12.1 {\mu}V/K.Comment: 16 pages, 7 figures, 2 table
Thermoelectric spin voltage in graphene
In recent years, new spin-dependent thermal effects have been discovered in
ferromagnets, stimulating a growing interest in spin caloritronics, a field
that exploits the interaction between spin and heat currents. Amongst the most
intriguing phenomena is the spin Seebeck effect, in which a thermal gradient
gives rise to spin currents that are detected through the inverse spin Hall
effect. Non-magnetic materials such as graphene are also relevant for spin
caloritronics, thanks to efficient spin transport, energy-dependent carrier
mobility and unique density of states. Here, we propose and demonstrate that a
carrier thermal gradient in a graphene lateral spin valve can lead to a large
increase of the spin voltage near to the graphene charge neutrality point. Such
an increase results from a thermoelectric spin voltage, which is analogous to
the voltage in a thermocouple and that can be enhanced by the presence of hot
carriers generated by an applied current. These results could prove crucial to
drive graphene spintronic devices and, in particular, to sustain pure spin
signals with thermal gradients and to tune the remote spin accumulation by
varying the spin-injection bias
Microwave Oscillations of a Nanomagnet Driven by a Spin-Polarized Current
We describe direct electrical measurements of microwave-frequency dynamics in
individual nanomagnets that are driven by spin transfer from a DC
spin-polarized current. We map out the dynamical stability diagram as a
function of current and magnetic field, and we show that spin transfer can
produce several different types of magnetic excitations, including small-angle
precession, a more complicated large-angle motion, and a high-current state
that generates little microwave signal. The large-angle mode can produce a
significant emission of microwave energy, as large as 40 times the
Johnson-noise background.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figure
Spin Caloritronics
This is a brief overview of the state of the art of spin caloritronics, the
science and technology of controlling heat currents by the electron spin degree
of freedom (and vice versa).Comment: To be published in "Spin Current", edited by S. Maekawa, E. Saitoh,
S. Valenzuela and Y. Kimura, Oxford University Pres
Cooling and heating with electron spins: Observation of the spin Peltier effect
The Peltier coefficient describes the amount of heat that is carried by an
electrical current when it passes through a material. Connecting two materials
with different Peltier coefficients causes a net heat flow towards or away from
the interface, resulting in cooling or heating at the interface - the Peltier
effect. Spintronics describes the transport of charge and angular momentum by
making use of separate spin-up and spin-down channels. Recently, the merger of
thermoelectricity with spintronics has given rise to a novel and rich research
field named spin caloritronics. Here, we report the first direct experimental
observation of refrigeration/heating driven by a spin current, a new spin
thermoelectric effect which we call the spin Peltier effect. The heat flow is
generated by the spin dependency of the Peltier coefficient inside the
ferromagnetic material. We explored the effect in a specifically designed spin
valve pillar structure by measuring the temperature using an electrically
isolated thermocouple. The difference in heat flow between the two magnetic
configurations leads to a change in temperature. With the help of 3-D finite
element modeling, we extracted permalloy spin Peltier coefficients in the range
of -0.9 to -1.3 mV. These results enable magnetic control of heat flow and
provide new functionality for future spintronic devices
Thermoelectric Signal Enhancement by Reconciling the Spin Seebeck and Anomalous Nernst Effects in Ferromagnet/Non-magnet Multilayers
The utilization of ferromagnetic (FM) materials in thermoelectric devices allows one to have a simpler structure and/or independent control of electric and thermal conductivities, which may further remove obstacles for this technology to be realized. The thermoelectricity in FM/non-magnet (NM) heterostructures using an optical heating source is studied as a function of NM materials and a number of multilayers. It is observed that the overall thermoelectric signal in those structures which is contributed by spin Seebeck effect and anomalous Nernst effect (ANE) is enhanced by a proper selection of NM materials with a spin Hall angle that matches to the sign of the ANE. Moreover, by an increase of the number of multilayer, the thermoelectric voltage is enlarged further and the device resistance is reduced, simultaneously. The experimental observation of the improvement of thermoelectric properties may pave the way for the realization of magnetic-(or spin-) based thermoelectric devicesopen4
Nanostring-based multigene assay to predict recurrence for gastric cancer patients after surgery
10.1371/journal.pone.0090133PLoS ONE93-POLN
Late Stage Infection in Sleeping Sickness
At the turn of the 19th century, trypanosomes were identified as the causative agent of sleeping sickness and their presence within the cerebrospinal fluid of late stage sleeping sickness patients was described. However, no definitive proof of how the parasites reach the brain has been presented so far. Analyzing electron micrographs prepared from rodent brains more than 20 days after infection, we present here conclusive evidence that the parasites first enter the brain via the choroid plexus from where they penetrate the epithelial cell layer to reach the ventricular system. Adversely, no trypanosomes were observed within the parenchyma outside blood vessels. We also show that brain infection depends on the formation of long slender trypanosomes and that the cerebrospinal fluid as well as the stroma of the choroid plexus is a hostile environment for the survival of trypanosomes, which enter the pial space including the Virchow-Robin space via the subarachnoid space to escape degradation. Our data suggest that trypanosomes do not intend to colonize the brain but reside near or within the glia limitans, from where they can re-populate blood vessels and disrupt the sleep wake cycles
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