A joint research group led by Professor Eiji Saito (Graduate School of Engineering) and colleagues from Tohoku University and Iwate University have demonstrated for the first time in the world the use of nuclear spin to generate heat. Metals and semiconductors are capable of thermoelectricity, in which a voltage is generated by a temperature gradient. The Seebeck effect and the spin-Seebeck effect using electron spins have been known, but the thermoelectric conversion of nuclear spins, which fluctuate thermally up to around absolute zero, has been unexplored. However, the thermoelectric conversion of nuclear spins, which fluctuate up to near absolute zero, has been unexplored. In this study, the nuclear spin thermoelectric conversion of manganese carbonate (MnCO3), which has a large nuclear spin, was demonstrated, paving the way for power generation by thermal fluctuations even at cryogenic temperatures. The resultant paper was published in Nature Communications on Friday 16 July.
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