John T. Heron

The Nernst effect describes a linear relationship between orthogonal components of a magnetic field, a temperature gradient, and a resulting transverse electric field. A non-local electrical measurement, where injection and detection are physically separated on the specimen, serves as a versatile and effective platform for measuring spin and thermal effects due to the avoided interference with a charge current directly. Here, we quantify the Nernst coefficient of Pt, a common material for spin injection in non-local geometries, by a non-local electrical measurement under modulated temperature and magnetic field and finite element analysis for modeling heat transfer. We determine the Nernst coefficient of Pt from room temperature (8.56 nV K−1 T−1) to 10 K (29.3 nV K−1 T−1). Beyond the quantification of the Nernst coefficient, our results show that careful consideration of the thermal properties of the thermal sink and electrode materials is needed when making an interpretation of non-local electrical measurements.