Spin Caloritronic Measurements: A Round Robin Comparison of the Longitudinal Spin Seebeck Effect

The rising field of spin caloritronics focuses on the interactions between spin and heat currents in a magnetic material. The observation of the spin Seebeck effect opened the route to this branch of research making possible the design of thermoelectric devices made of insulating magnetic materials. A round robin test performed by five partners on a single device highlighted the reproducibility problems related to the measurements of the spin Seebeck coefficient, the quantity that describes the strength of the spin Seebeck effect. This work stimulated the search for more reproducible measurement methods.