Heat-induced damping modification in yttrium iron garnet/platinum hetero-structures

We experimentally demonstrate the manipulation of magnetization relaxation utilizing a temperature difference across the thickness of an yttrium iron garnet/platinum hetero-structure: the damping is either increased or decreased depending on the sign of the temperature gradient. This effect might be explained by a thermally induced spin torque on the magnetization precession. The heat-induced variation of the damping is detected by microwave techniques as well as by a DC voltage caused by spin pumping into the adjacent Pt layer and the subsequent conversion into a charge current by the inverse spin Hall effect.