Comparative measurements of local and nonlocal spin Seebeck effect in YIG/Pt nano-thick films

Abstract We systematically compared the local and nonlocal spin Seebeck effect (SSE) in YIG/Pt nano-thick films. Their dependences on heating current, magnetic field and temperature were studied. Both the local and nonlocal SSE are quadratically related to heating current while their dependences on the magnetic field are distinguishing. The local SSE is seldomly affected but the nonlocal one is obviously suppressed by high magnetic field. Besides, local SSE gradually enhances to maximum around 150 K and then quickly decreases. However, nonlocal SSE monotonously grows up from 50 to 300 K. The transport properties of the associated spin current in local and nonlocal SSE are found to be different which is possibly due to that the local signal is directly related to the temperature difference at the interface whereas the nonlocal one is mainly driven by the spin chemical potential.