Observation of the spin Nernst effect.

The observation of the spin Hall effect triggered intense research on pure spin current transport. With the spin Hall effect, the spin Seebeck effect and the spin Peltier effect already observed, our picture of pure spin current transport is almost complete. The only missing piece is the spin Nernst (-Ettingshausen) effect, which so far has been discussed only on theoretical grounds. Here, we report the observation of the spin Nernst effect. By applying a longitudinal temperature gradient, we generate a pure transverse spin current in a Pt thin film. For readout, we exploit the magnetization-orientation-dependent spin transfer to an adjacent yttrium iron garnet layer, converting the spin Nernst current in Pt into a controlled change of the longitudinal and transverse thermopower voltage. Our experiments show that the spin Nernst and the spin Hall effect in Pt are of comparable magnitude, but differ in sign, as corroborated by first-principles calculations.

Tuning Spin Hall Angles by Alloying.

Within a combined experimental and theoretical study it is shown that the spin Hall angle of a substitutional alloy system can be continuously varied via its composition. For the alloy system Au_{x}Pt_{1-x} a substantial increase of the maximum spin Hall angle compared to the pure alloy partners could be achieved this way. The experimental findings for the longitudinal charge conductivity σ, the transverse spin Hall conductivity σ_{SH}, and the spin Hall angle α_{SH} could be confirmed by calculations based on Kubo's linear response formalism. Calculations of these response quantities for different temperatures show that the divergent behavior of σ and σ_{SH} is rapidly suppressed with increasing temperature. As a consequence, σ_{SH} is dominated at higher temperatures by its intrinsic contribution that has only a rather weak temperature dependence.

Ab initio calculation of the Gilbert damping parameter via the linear response formalism.

A Kubo-Greenwood-like equation for the Gilbert damping parameter α is presented that is based on the linear response formalism. Its implementation using the fully relativistic Korringa-Kohn-Rostoker band structure method in combination with coherent potential approximation alloy theory allows it to be applied to a wide range of situations. This is demonstrated with results obtained for the bcc alloy system Fe(1-x)Co(x) as well as for a series of alloys of Permalloy with 5d transition metals. To account for the thermal displacements of atoms as a scattering mechanism, an alloy-analogy model is introduced. The corresponding calculations for Ni correctly describe the rapid change of α when small amounts of substitutional Cu are introduced.

Coherent description of the intrinsic and extrinsic anomalous Hall effect in disordered alloys on an ab initio level.

A coherent description of the anomalous Hall effect is presented that is applicable to pure and disordered systems. This is achieved by an implementation of the Kubo-Streda equation using the fully relativistic Korringa-Kohn-Rostoker method in combination with the coherent potential approximation. Applications to the pure ferromagnets Fe and Ni led to results in full accordance with previous work. For the alloy systems Fe(x)Pd(1-x) and Ni(x)Pd(1-x) very satisfying agreement with experiment could be achieved for the anomalous Hall conductivity. To interpret these results a detailed discussion of the skew and side-jump scattering processes is given.

Self-interaction correction in multiple scattering theory: application to transition metal oxides.

We apply to transition metal monoxides the self-interaction corrected (SIC) local spin density approximation, implemented locally in the multiple scattering theory within the Korringa-Kohn-Rostoker (KKR) band structure method. The calculated electronic structure and in particular magnetic moments and energy gaps are discussed in reference to the earlier SIC results obtained within the linear muffin-tin orbital atomic sphere approximation band structure method, involving transformations between Bloch and Wannier representations, in order to solve the eigenvalue problem and calculate the SIC charge and potential. Since the KKR method can be easily extended to treat disordered alloys, by invoking the coherent potential approximation (CPA), in this paper we compare the CPA approach and supercell calculations to study the electronic structure of NiO with cation vacancies.

Relativistic optimized effective potential method-application to alkali metals.

We present a relativistic formulation of the optimized effective potential method (ROEP) and its implementation within the Korringa-Kohn-Rostoker multiple scattering formalism. The scheme is an all-electron approach, treating core and band states formally on the same footing. We use exact exchange (EXX) as an approximation to the exchange correlation functional. Numerical four-component wavefunctions for the description of core and valence electrons and the corresponding ingredients of the ROEP integral equation are employed. The exact exchange expression for the valence states is reformulated in terms of the electronic Green's function that in turn is evaluated by making use of multiple scattering formalism. We present and discuss the application of the formalism to non-magnetic alkali metals.