Drift and Diffusion of Spins Generated by the Spin Hall Effect

Stern, N. P.; Steuerman, D. W.; Mack, S.; Gossard, A. C.; Awschalom, D. D.

Drift and Diffusion of Spins Generated by the Spin Hall Effect

Authors

Description

Electrically generated spin accumulation due to the spin Hall effect is imaged in n-GaAs channels using Kerr rotation microscopy, focusing on its spatial distribution and time-averaged behavior in a magnetic field. Spatially-resolved imaging reveals that spin accumulation observed in transverse arms develops due to longitudinal drift of spin polarization produced at the sample boundaries. One- and two-dimensional drift-diffusion modeling is used to explain these features, providing a more complete understanding of observations of spin accumulation and the spin Hall effect.
9 pages, 3 figures