Physics: Spintronics hots up

Spintronics, or magnetoelectronics circuits, make use of electrons' spins, not just their electrical charge. Spin polarized currents can be generated by driving a current from a ferromagnetic electrode into a non-magnetic metal or semiconductor using circular polarized light, but until now it has not been possible to achieve fully electrical spin injection and detection at room temperature. Now Jedema et al. report the electrical injection and detection of spin currents and the observation of spin accumulation in a pure metal microsized device. This is a step towards more practical spintronics devices, and provides a system in which electron spin behaviour can be studied in the solid state

Electrical spin injection and accumulation at room temperature in an all-metal mesoscopic spin valve
F. J. JEDEMA, A. T. FILIP, B. J. VAN WEES
Nature 410, 345-348 (15 March 2001)
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