Spin Hall Effect Transistor

Abstract

In a Spin Hall The spin Hall effect, in which an electrical current causes accumulation of electron spins of opposite signs in the direction transverse to the current flow, provides a promising avenue of research in exploiting the spin degree of freedom in electronic devices. However, implementing the effect in a device is challenging. Wunderlich et al. (p. 1801 ) combine the concept of the spin Hall effect with that of a spin transistor, and build a nonmagnetic device in a which a spin current, injected by optical means, is “stripped” of its charge component, goes through a spin-modulation layer, and is detected using the inverse spin Hall effect. Such manipulation of the spin current may help in future spintronic applications.