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Direct electronic measurement of the spin Hall effect

Abstract

The generation, manipulation and detection of spin-polarized electrons in nanostructures define the main challenges of spin-based electronics1. Among the different approaches for spin generation and manipulation, spin–orbit coupling—which couples the spin of an electron to its momentum—is attracting considerable interest. In a spin–orbit-coupled system, a non-zero spin current is predicted in a direction perpendicular to the applied electric field, giving rise to a spin Hall effect2,3,4. Consistent with this effect, electrically induced spin polarization was recently detected by optical techniques at the edges of a semiconductor channel5 and in two-dimensional electron gases in semiconductor heterostructures6,7. Here we report electrical measurements of the spin Hall effect in a diffusive metallic conductor, using a ferromagnetic electrode in combination with a tunnel barrier to inject a spin-polarized current. In our devices, we observe an induced voltage that results exclusively from the conversion of the injected spin current into charge imbalance through the spin Hall effect. Such a voltage is proportional to the component of the injected spins that is perpendicular to the plane defined by the spin current direction and the voltage probes. These experiments reveal opportunities for efficient spin detection without the need for magnetic materials, which could lead to useful spintronics devices that integrate information processing and data storage.

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Figure 1: Geometry of the devices and measurement schemes.
Figure 2: Spin-transistor measurements and spin precession.
Figure 3: Spin Hall effect.
Figure 4: Overall change of the spin Hall resistance, Δ RSH, between large negative and large positive B.

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Acknowledgements

We thank L. DiCarlo, H. A. Engel, D. J. Monsma and W. D. Oliver for a critical reading of the manuscript. This research was supported in part by the US National Science Foundation and the US Office of Naval Research.

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Correspondence to S. O. Valenzuela.

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Reprints and permissions information is available at npg.nature.com/reprintsandpermissions. The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Supplementary Figures

This file contains Supplementary Figures 1 and 2, with details on the sample fabrication procedure and raw data for the spin-transistor measurements. (PDF 423 kb)

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Valenzuela, S., Tinkham, M. Direct electronic measurement of the spin Hall effect. Nature 442, 176–179 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature04937

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