Elecromagnetic generation and detection of dc/ac spin current

TL;DR

This paper explores how electromagnetic principles can induce and detect dc and ac spin currents in heterostructures, revealing weak but potentially useful effects for spintronics applications.

Contribution

It demonstrates that electromagnetic laws imply the generation and detection of spin currents via electric fields in heterostructures, a novel approach in spintronics.

Findings

Spinomotive forces can be induced by changing electric fields.

Spin currents can generate transverse electric fields.

Effects are weak but may have practical applications.

Abstract

It is shown that in a heterostructure where screening is eliminated, the Amp\'ere-Maxwell law of electrodynamics implies that a dc or ac spinomotive force can be inudced with a time rate of change of a transverse electric field, and the magnetic analog of Amp\'ere law implies that a dc or ac spin current can generate a transverse electric field at the same frequency outside the spin-current channel. Both effects are quite weak but may be of some usefulness.