Generation of spin currents by a temperature gradient in a two-terminal device

TL;DR

This paper proposes a two-terminal cold-atom quantum simulator to study spin currents driven by temperature gradients, providing insights into spin caloritronics with potential for future device design.

Contribution

It introduces a novel cold-atom simulator model that links temperature differences to spin current generation via an inhomogeneous Heisenberg spin chain.

Findings

Existence of spin current driven by temperature gradient.

Temperature gradient influences impurity dynamics and spin flow.

Model mimics spin Seebeck effect in a controlled quantum system.

Abstract

Theoretical and experimental studies of the interaction between spins and temperature are vital for the development of spin caloritronics, as they dictate the design of future devices. In this work, we propose a two-terminal cold-atom simulator to study that interaction. The proposed quantum simulator consists of strongly interacting atoms that occupy two temperature reservoirs connected by a one-dimensional link. First, we argue that the dynamics in the link can be described using an inhomogeneous Heisenberg spin chain whose couplings are defined by the local temperature. Second, we show the existence of a spin current in a system with a temperature difference by studying the dynamics that follows the spin-flip of an atom in the link. A temperature gradient accelerates the impurity in one direction more than in the other, leading to an overall spin current similar to the spin Seebeck effect.