Thermomagnonic spin transfer and Peltier effects in insulating magnets

¹ Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California - Riverside, CA 92521, USA
² Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California - Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA

^a alexey.kovalev@ucr.edu

Received: 31 October 2011
Accepted: 8 February 2012

Abstract

We study the coupled magnon energy transport and collective magnetization dynamics in ferromagnets with magnetic textures. By constructing a phenomenological theory based on irreversible thermodynamics, we describe the motion of domain walls by thermal gradients and the generation of heat flows by magnetization dynamics. From a microscopic description based on magnon kinetics, we estimate the transport coefficients and analyze the feasibility of energy-related applications in insulating ferromagnets, such as yttrium iron garnet and europium oxide.