Thermoelectric generation is an essential function in future energy-saving technologies. However, it has so far been an exclusive feature of electric conductors, a situation which limits its application; conduction electrons are often problematic in the thermal design of devices. Here we report electric voltage generation from heat flowing in an insulator. We reveal that, despite the absence of conduction electrons, the magnetic insulator LaY(2)Fe(5)O(12) can convert a heat flow into a spin voltage. Attached Pt films can then transform this spin voltage into an electric voltage as a result of the inverse spin Hall effect. The experimental results require us to introduce a thermally activated interface spin exchange between LaY(2)Fe(5)O(12) and Pt. Our findings extend the range of potential materials for thermoelectric applications and provide a crucial piece of information for understanding the physics of the spin Seebeck effect.
This paper represents fabrication and properties of an improved current-driven 128 by 128 magneto-optic spatial light modulator (MOSLM) consists of arrayed pixels patterned with 14 micrometers square of 16 micrometers pitch. It could be driven successively only drivelines without a bias field by external coil to saturate magnetization. The magnetic pixels were embedded into the nonmagnetic substrate both to avoid magnetic switching error and to make the pixels array surface smooth. The switching field of arrayed pixels was reduced to 145Oe by annealing them to decrease the growth induced magnetic anisotropy. This value was about half of the conventional 128 by 128 MOSLMs. Moreover, copper straight drivelines were used for decreasing electric power consumption and applying a homogeneous magnetic field to the pixel. This drivelines structure enabled to switch the individual pixels reversibly keeping a single domain state, therefore, the successive driving of writing and erasing various checker patterns could be possible without bias field by external coil. The electric power consumption was decreased about 70 %. The switching speed of one pixel was 25 nanoseconds. It is more than a thousand times faster than other types of SLM, for example, 10 to 30 milliseconds for liquid crystal (LC) type, and 10-20 microseconds for micro electro mechanical systems (MEMS) type.
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