Physics Commons^™

2d Confinement Of Thermal Gradients In Metallic Non-Local Spin Valves, Rachel K. Bennet

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Non-local spin valves (NLSVs) are a valuable tool in the growing field of spintronics due to their unique ability to separate charge current from pure spin current. Their potential applications as read heads for hard-disk drives, as well as use as logic gates and other spin sensors, makes detailed understanding of their behavior under a wide range of operating conditions very important.

In this dissertation, I present results of extreme thermal engineering of the supporting substrate of NLSVs, which has a dramatic impact on the background signal of the device as well as contributions from thermal spin effects such as …

Nanoscale Thermoelectrics: A Study Of The Absolute Seebeck Coefficient Of Thin Films, Sarah J. Mason

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The worlds demand for energy is ever increasing. Likewise, the environmental impact of climate change due generating that energy through combustion of fossil fuels is increasingly alarming. Due to these factors new sources of renewable energies are constantly being sought out. Thermoelectric devices have the ability to generate clean, renewable, energy out of waste heat. However promising that is, their inefficiency severely inhibits applicability and practical use. The usefulness of a thermoelectric material increases with the dimensionless quantity, ZT, where, Z = S²σ/κ, and S, σ, and κ are the Seebeck coefficient and electrical and thermal …