Transverse spin Nernst magnetoresistance induced by thermal spin current in ferromagnet/non-magnet bilayers

We report thermal generation of pure spin current in non-magnetic materials, which is known as spin Nernst effect by investigating the thermally-induced transverse magnetoresistance in ferromagnet (FM)/non-magnetic heavy metal (HM) bilayers. We observe that the magnitude of the transverse magnetoresistance in FM/HM bilayers is significantly modified by HM and its thickness. This strong dependence of transverse magnetoresistance on HM evidences the spin Nernst effect in HM; the generation of thermally-induced spin current in HM and its subsequent reflection at the FM/HM interface. Our analysis shows that the spin Nernst angles of W and Pt have the opposite sign to their spin Hall angles. Moreover, our estimate implies that the magnitude of the spin Nernst angle would be comparable to that of the spin Hall angle, suggesting an efficient generation of spin current by the spin Nernst effect.