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The spin Seebeck effect (SSE) is sensitive to thermally driven magnetic excitations in magnetic insulators. Vanadium dioxide in its insulating low-temperature phase is expected to lack magnetic degrees of freedom, as vanadium atoms are thought to form singlets upon dimerization of the vanadium chains. Instead, we find a paramagnetic SSE response in VO2 films that grows as the temperature decreases below 50 K. The field and temperature-dependent SSE voltage is qualitatively consistent with a general model of paramagnetic SSE response and inconsistent with triplet spin transport. Quantitative estimates find a spin Seebeck coefficient comparable in magnitude to that observed in strongly magnetic materials. The microscopic nature of the magnetic excitations in VO2 requires further examination.
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Spin Seebeck effect at low temperatures in the nominally paramagnetic insulating state of vanadium dioxide
The low temperature monoclinic, insulating phase of vanadium dioxide is ordinarily considered nonmagnetic, with dimerized vanadium atoms forming spin singlets, though paramagnetic response is seen at low temperatures. We find a nonlocal spin Seebeck signal in VO2 films that appears below 30 K and that increases with a decrease in temperature. The spin Seebeck response has a nonhysteretic dependence on the in-plane external magnetic field. This paramagnetic spin Seebeck response is discussed in terms of prior findings on paramagnetic spin Seebeck effects and expected magnetic excitations of the monoclinic ground state.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2102028
- PAR ID:
- 10439910
- Publisher / Repository:
- American Institute of Physics
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Applied Physics Letters
- Volume:
- 121
- Issue:
- 10
- ISSN:
- 0003-6951
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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