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Topological Transport Effects and Pure Spin Currents in NanostructuresSchlitz, Richard 28 August 2020 (has links)
Magnetoresistive effects are powerful tools for studying the intricate structure of solid state electronic systems, and have many applications in our current information technology. In particular, the electronic system reflects the crystal symmetry and the orbital structure of the atoms of a given solid, and thus is crucial to understanding magnetism, superconductivity and many other effects which are of key interest to current solid state research. Consequently, studies of the electrical transport properties of solid state matter allow to evaluate this imprint and in turn draw conclusions about the interactions within a material. In this thesis, we will exploit the capabilities of magnetotransport measurements to infer the properties of a multitude of magnetic systems. In turn, this allows us to push the understanding of transport phenomena in magnetic materials.
The first part of this work is focused on the magnetoresistance observed in spin Hall active metals in contact with a magnetic insulator. In such bilayers, the interfacial spin
accumulation caused by the spin Hall effect in the metal can interact with the magnetic insulator, giving rise to interesting magnetoresistive effects. In the framework of this thesis, bilayers with several magnetic insulators are studied, including antiferomagnets, ferrimagnets and paramagnets (disordered magnets). For the disordered magnetic insulators, we find that the established spin Hall magnetoresistance framework does not allow to consistently describe the observed transport response. Consequently, we propose an alternative explanation of the magnetoresistance in such heterostructures, using the Hanle magnetoresistance and assuming an interface which has a finite electrical conductivity. This alternative model can serve to generalize the theory of the spin Hall magnetoresistance, providing addition information on the microscopic picture for the loss of the transverse spin component. Additionally, by partly removing the magnetic insulator and studying the ensuing changes, we verify that magnons are crucial for the observation of a non-local magnetoresistance in bilayers of a magnetic insulator and a metal. Finally, the local and non-local spin Seebeck effect (i.e. the electric field generated by a thermally driven pure spin current) is investigated in bilayers of Cr2O3 and Pt where the occurrence of a spin superfluid ground state was reported. In our sample, however, the transport response is consistent with the antiferromagnetic spin Seebeck effect mediated by the small magnetic field induced magnetization also reported for other antiferromagnet/metal heterostructures. As such, we cannot verify the presence of a spin superfluid ground state in the system.
In the second part of this thesis, the topological properties of the electronic system and the related changes of the magnetoelectric and magnetothermal transport response are investigated. To that end, we first demonstrate a novel measurement technique, the alternating thermal gradient technique, allowing to separate the relevant thermovoltages from spurious other voltages generated within the measurement setup. We employ this novel technique for measuring the topological Nernst effect in Mn 1.8 PtSn and show the possibility to combine the magnetoelectric and magnetothermal transport response to evaluate the presence of topological transport signatures without requiring magnetization measurements. Additionally, we show that the anomalous Nernst effect in the non-collinear antiferromagnet Mn3Sn is connected to the antiferromagnetic domain structure: Using spatially resolved measurements of the anomalous Nernst effect, direct access to the antiferromagnetic domain structure is demonstrated. Additionally, a thermally assisted domain writing scheme is implemented, allowing the preparation of Mn3Sn into a defined antiferromagnetic domain state.
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