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  • Open Access

On-chip detection of anisotropic thermopolarization in quartz

Shuichi Iwakiri*, Yasumitsu Miyata, and Takao Mori

  • *Contact author: iwakiri.shuichi@nims.go.jp
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Phys. Rev. Research 8, 043115 – Published 2 November, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/2n32-34z8

Abstract

Temperature gradients are widely used to drive and probe transport phenomena in solids, forming the basis of heat-to-charge conversion processes. In typical experiments, local heating is introduced to generate a temperature gradient, and the resulting electrical response is detected by separate electrodes. Such measurements usually regard heating purely as a source of thermal excitation. Here, we show that heating inherently generates mechanical stress through thermal expansion, which in turn produces measurable electrical signals via electromechanical coupling. Using quartz as a model piezoelectric system, we demonstrate that heat can be converted to electrical currents via thermally generated stress. The on-chip device used in our experiment enables us to probe the anisotropy of the piezoelectric tensor through the thermally generated current, exhibiting twofold and threefold responses for X-cut and Z-cut crystals, respectively. We further show that the response can be detected in both current and voltage modes. These results reveal a thermomechanical pathway for heat-to-charge conversion and establish a general platform for electrically probing thermomechanical responses in insulating materials.

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Phys. Rev. Research 8, 043115– Published 2 November, 2026
  • Received 16 May 2026
  • Accepted 14 September 2026
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Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.

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