Interplay of Peltier and Seebeck effects in nanoscale nonlocal spin valves

TL;DR

This study investigates how thermoelectric effects, specifically Peltier and Seebeck effects, influence the behavior of nanoscale nonlocal spin valves through experimental measurements and thermoelectric modeling.

Contribution

The paper introduces a finite element thermoelectric model to analyze thermoelectric effects in nanoscale spin valves and experimentally validates the model's predictions.

Findings

Thermoelectric effects significantly affect nonlocal baseline resistance.

Second and third harmonic signals relate to Joule heating and temperature-dependent properties.

The combined Peltier and Seebeck effects are crucial in understanding device behavior.

Abstract

We have experimentally studied the role of thermoelectric effects in nanoscale nonlocal spin valve devices. A finite element thermoelectric model is developed to calculate the generated Seebeck voltages due to Peltier and Joule heating in the devices. By measuring the first, second and third harmonic voltage response non locally, the model is experimentally examined. The results indicate that the combination of Peltier and Seebeck effects contributes significantly to the nonlocal baseline resistance. Moreover, we found that the second and third harmonic response signals can be attributed to Joule heating and temperature dependencies of both Seebeck coefficient and resistivity.