Thermal Hall effect

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The Thermal Hall effect is the thermal analog of the Hall effect. Here, a thermal gradient is produced across a solid instead of an electric field. When a magnetic field is applied, an orthogonal temperature gradient develops.

For conductors, a significant portion of the thermal current is carried by the electrons. In particular, the Righi-Leduc Effect describes the heat flow resulting from a perpendicular temperature gradient and vice versa, and the Maggi-Righi-Leduc effect describes changes in thermal conductivity when placing a conductor in a magnetic field.

Recently, a Thermal Hall effect has been measured in a paramagnetic insulator and dubbed the "Phonon Hall effect."^[1] In this case, there are no charged currents in the solid so a clear microscopic picture has yet to emerge.

Measurements of the Thermal Hall conducitivity are used to distinguish between the electronic and lattice contributions to thermal conductivity. These measurements are especially useful when studying superconductors.