Researchers say "spin Seebeck effect" could lead to new batteries, storage

You know something's a long way from becoming an actual product when we're just talking about the discovery of an "effect," but a team of researchers at Keio University in Yokohama, Japan say that the so-called "spin Seebeck effect" they've discovered could eventually have some pretty big implications for all sorts of devices. According to Science News, the researchers found that by heating one side of a magnetized nickel-iron rod they were able to change the arrangement of the electrons in the material according to their "spins," which is the quantum-physics equivalent of the south-north magnetic axes in bar magnets. One of the big advantages of that, it seems, is that, unlike with electric currents, transferring information by "flipping spins" does not generate heat, which would let "spintronics devices" operate at higher speeds without overheating, and cut down on power consumption in the process.

[Via Spintronics-Info, image courtesy Nature]

[Dralion76 @ Oct 9th 2008 3:11PM]

My wife will be happy with these next-gen tampons

[Ian @ Oct 9th 2008 3:14PM]

just as long as they dont explode like sony's batteries

[Ian @ Oct 9th 2008 3:14PM]

just as long as they dont explode like sony's batteries

[Viaono @ Oct 9th 2008 3:15PM]

Must be that 10 min to 80% charged one.

[keithifica @ Oct 9th 2008 3:18PM]

This is interesting, it could mean infinite stacks of transistors on a tiny tiny die.

Engadget: Spin is a quantum mechanical quantity without a physical analogue. It has nothing to do with magnetics or domains or anything like that.

[DirtyVegas @ Oct 9th 2008 3:27PM]

Yeah, but given that spin is a "physical property" and is either one or the other, a simple comparison with polarity works. A "real" and in-depth explanation about something that does not belong to classical physics has no end, not in the least on a website where apple and MS zealots fight it out.

[Gr1zz @ Oct 9th 2008 4:09PM]

This conversation gives me renewed hope that there are intelligent commenters on Engadget.

[jscottd @ Oct 9th 2008 3:29PM]

Nuh uh!!!

[StalematE @ Oct 9th 2008 3:44PM]

uh huh!!

[Frankenstein Black @ Oct 9th 2008 3:35PM]

Sweet Shaaamony! Tesla's will soon be able to double their battery capacity/range. 500 miles on a single charge anyone? Hey Keio University dudes, keep your heads low. That wasn't a metal bee that just buzzed your ear ;-p...

[whatishalo? @ Oct 9th 2008 3:36PM]

Um. Doesn't introducing heat to induce the effect negate the coolness of no heat generated from the effect?

[CraigJ @ Oct 9th 2008 4:43PM]

no.

A constant heat at one end is not the same as heat generated by electrical resistance. Well heat is heat, but the point is that there will be no heat generated by the "transactions", meaning no limitation on the resonance due to heat. Think yottahertz processors. Finally something that will run Crysis on high...

[I dont get quantum physics @ Oct 9th 2008 4:53PM]

Word. I was going to ask, doesn't adding heat to reverse the spin, um...add heat?

[Arran @ Oct 9th 2008 3:58PM]

I read the comments to see if anyone had elaborated or explained what this post about in further depth. Unfortunatly it's full of people telling lame jokes to get a green plus clicked by the same sort of people.

[natb @ Oct 9th 2008 4:07PM]

Me to, but then I noticed that Arran had posted a comment about the lack of additional explanation for the article...

...like me. Doh!

[DirtyVegas @ Oct 9th 2008 4:19PM]

Um, the article does have links to the actual publication right? Aren't they enough?

[CraigJ @ Oct 9th 2008 4:50PM]

So, you were reading the comments on Engadget to learn about quantum mechanics? A system stops being a superposition of states and becomes either one or the other when an observation takes place. There's a start for you...

[DirtyVegas @ Oct 9th 2008 5:35PM]

Here kitty kitty...

Oh no! You killed the kitty!

[CraigJ @ Oct 9th 2008 6:02PM]

I don't know, I haven't looked yet.

[Jaylord @ Oct 10th 2008 1:13AM]

Trying to learn about quantum mechanics on the internet - especially a tech news site, even more so in the comments section - is idiotic. I would not trust anyone without a degree in physics to explain quantum mechanics to me. I am not excluding myself from that list (I can't prove I have a degree anyway online), but considering how often I hear pseudo-intellectuals in coffee shops get into arguments about things they don't understand I think you'd be better off avoiding these people for anything other than entertainment.

Or maybe you'd prefer this answer. You see, particles have spin. And this spin can be up or down or both! But when you view it, changes. It's like if you view it, this cat in a box dies. I know it's complicated, but if you keep thinking about it you'll eventually get it. That Heisenberg guy was a genius. I mean the cat is uncertain until you view it, because you can't see it beforehand! But when you see it, it's there. Metaphysics man, that's all it is. So you know, physics is really just how you perceive it. What do those guys with fancy degrees and their equations know anyway? You know what I'm saying, man? So anyway, I drink organic coffee to save the planet...

[Jayness @ Oct 10th 2008 6:09AM]

After reading my last post, I've decided I'm a condescending jackass. Here you go:

http://online.physics.uiuc.edu/courses/phys214/fall08/syllabus.html

[DirtyVegas @ Oct 9th 2008 5:54PM]

Firstly, READ the link.

Since no electrons hit each other in a random manner, there is no dissipation of heat. If no heat is dissipated, nothing will "generate" heat. Energy's always converted remember? The heat energy that you feed it, will be used to change spin orientations, and thus depending on their positions and variance in the spin at that position, you can manipulate mag. fields and hence manipulate info.

[brett @ Oct 9th 2008 6:05PM]

no. think about it this way:

when you heat a pot of water, the heat is generated by the flame (in the case of propane) or the element (in the case of electric cooktops) and transferred to the pot by conduction (element touching the pot), convection (heated air), and radiation. While the water does absorb some of that heat, it's not generating any by itself.

some chemical compounds undergo reactions that are either exothermic (producing heat) or endothermic (absorbing heat). for example, the reaction of water becoming gaseous is an endothermic one. at sea level, once you add enough energy to get the water to 100 C, you reach the point where the vapor pressure is such that it can phase change. because it's endothermic, it requires more energy to convert it to gas. if this reaction were exothermic, though, once you reached 100 C, the liquid would turn to gas and generate heat, releasing it into the remaining water.

using the analogy, the seebeck effect is neither exothermic nor endothermic. when the researchers applied heat, no heat was generated by the realignment of the spins.

[Ian @ Oct 9th 2008 7:01PM]

So is this a new way to transfer data, or is this a new way to created a battery? Sounds like a method to transfer data through spin.

[iNToIT @ Oct 10th 2008 3:19AM]

You spin me right round, baby
Right round like a battery, baby
Right round round round

[Bill Seebeck @ Oct 30th 2008 2:07PM]

This is a wonderful advancement by the Japanese at a time when we are exploring new ways to harness and extend energy. When my ancestor, Thomas Johann Seebeck, created the thermacouple, it was in the early 1800's. He was at the University of Jena in Germany, yet he was not a trained physicist but a medical doctor as was his on again, off again, friend and compatriot Goethe, who was also a medical doctor, turned writer, turned physicist. Yet, together they also successfully challenged some of Newton's theories on colors. At Jena, they also worked alongside the Italian, Volta, who during this period created the first battery and with them also was Peltier, the Frenchmen whose inverse application of some of Seebeck's discoveries, himself discovered what we know today as refrigeration. All of this in what became known as the Age of Electricity, which was advanced from day one by the American writer, printer, patriot, government official, Benjamin Franklin, also not a degreed physicist.

Einstein liked to say (and I am paraphrasing) that you could discover more about the universe having a picnic while sitting on a blanket under a tree on a beautiful day, than you could ever discover in a laboratory.

So, yes it is possible for those that have commented on this story to make observations that may yet advance such theories. This advancement might also cause you to consider possible solutions to many other unsolved mysteries of our planet and universe or at the very least to think about them.

This is how it all starts. The other day, a sixth grade student asked me, "Who blew the first bubble?" The class laughed, but I didn't, I was amazed and I said so and then asked why he had asked. He said because he wanted to know, who thought it up first, did we know and if so, what had motivated them?

This is how we can all become physicists, keep asking questions about the world around us and if we do, we will not only understand the why of it, but also we may discover ways in which we can all interact with the planet in a better way.

Bill Seebeck