# Heat drives electron orbital currents, revealing first experimental evidence of orbital Nernst effect

Source: [Physics News - Physics News, Material Sciences, Science News, Physics](https://phys.org/news/2026-11-electron-orbital-currents-revealing-experimental.html) · 2026-11-13 · Physics
Page: https://themorning.science/story/heat-drives-electron-orbital-currents-revealing-first-experimental-evidence-of-o-764df43fdff59e62
Kind: research · Impact: low

## In brief

- Researchers detected heat-driven orbital currents for the first time in oxidized copper films, where temperature gradients generate electron orbital angular momentum.
- The phenomenon is called the orbital Nernst effect; the work was carried out at National Taiwan University and reported in Nature.
- The reported effect is a potential route to harnessing waste heat in spintronic devices.

## Why it matters

The result provides first experimental evidence of a heat-to-orbital-angular-momentum effect, which could open a route to using waste heat in future spintronic devices.

## Timeline

- 2026-11-13: Nature publication of the orbital Nernst effect study reported by NTU researchers

## Coverage

- [Heat drives electron orbital currents, revealing first experimental evidence of orbital Nernst effect](https://phys.org/news/2026-11-electron-orbital-currents-revealing-experimental.html) — Physics News - Physics News, Material Sciences, Science News, Physics, 2026-11-13
- [Heat-driven orbital currents detected for the first time in copper films](https://www.nanowerk.com/nanotechnology-news3/newsid=70602.php?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss) — Nanowerk Nanotechnology and Emerging Technologies News, 2026-11-13

Tags: orbital nernst effect, spintronics, copper films, waste heat, orbital angular momentum

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