Heat transport between antiferromagnetic insulators and normal metals

Antiferromagnetic insulators can become active spintronics components by controlling and detecting their dynamics via spin currents in adjacent metals. This cross talk occurs via spin transfer and spin pumping, phenomena that have been predicted to be as strong in antiferromagnets as in ferromagnets. Here, we demonstrate that a temperature gradient drives a significant heat flow from magnons in antiferromagnetic insulators to electrons in adjacent normal metals. The same coefficients as in the spin-transfer and spin-pumping processes also determine the thermal conductance. However, in contrast to ferromagnets, the heat is not transferred via a spin Seebeck effect which is absent in antiferromagnetic insulator-normal metal systems. Instead, the heat is proportional to a large staggered spin Seebeck effect.