Detection of DC currents and resistance measurements in longitudinal spin Seebeck effect experiments on Pt/YIG and Pt/NFO

In this work we investigated thin films of the ferrimagnetic insulators Y₃Fe₅O₁₂ and NiFe₂O₄ capped with thin Pt layers in terms of the longitudinal spin Seebeck effect (LSSE). The electric response detected in the Pt layer under an out-of-plane temperature gradient can be interpreted as a pure spin current converted into a charge current via the inverse spin Hall effect. Typically, the transverse voltage is the quantity investigated in LSSE measurements (in the range of μV). Here, we present the directly detected DC current (in the range of nA) as an alternative quantity. Furthermore, we investigate the resistance of the Pt layer in the LSSE configuration. We found an influence of the test current on the resistance. The typical shape of the LSSE curve varies for increasing test currents.