Magnon thermal Edelstein effect detected by inverse spin Hall effect

Abstract

In an easy-plane antiferromagnet with the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI), magnons are subject to an effective spin-momentum locking. An in-plane temperature gradient can generate interfacial accumulation of magnons with a specified polarization, realizing the magnon thermal Edelstein effect. We theoretically investigate the injection and detection of this thermally-driven spin polarization in an adjacent heavy metal with strong spin Hall effect. We find that the inverse spin Hall voltage depends monotonically on both temperature and the DMI but non-monotonically on the hard-axis anisotropy. Counterintuitively, the magnon thermal Edelstein effect is an even function of a magnetic field applied along the N\'eel vector.