Spin Hall voltages from a.c. and d.c. spin currents

Nat Commun. 2014 Apr 30:5:3768. doi: 10.1038/ncomms4768.

Abstract

In spin electronics, the spin degree of freedom is used to transmit and store information. To this end the ability to create pure spin currents--that is, without net charge transfer--is essential. When the magnetization vector in a ferromagnet-normal metal junction is excited, the spin pumping effect leads to the injection of pure spin currents into the normal metal. The polarization of this spin current is time-dependent and contains a very small d.c. component. Here we show that the large a.c. component of the spin currents can be detected efficiently using the inverse spin Hall effect. The observed a.c.-inverse spin Hall voltages are one order of magnitude larger than the conventional d.c.-inverse spin Hall voltages measured on the same device. Our results demonstrate that ferromagnet-normal metal junctions are efficient sources of pure spin currents in the gigahertz frequency range.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Electromagnetic Phenomena*
  • Information Storage and Retrieval / methods*
  • Magnetics*
  • Models, Theoretical*
  • Time Factors