2010/12/31 by Peter Stano, Philippe Jacquod
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Advancements in Semiconductor Devices and Circuit Design #Atomic and Subatomic Physics Research #Charge (physics) #Condensed matter physics #Electron #Magnetic field #Mesoscopic physics #Physics #Quantum and electron transport phenomena #Quantum mechanics #Quantum point contact #Quantum well #Spin (aerodynamics) #Spin Hall effect #Spin current #Spin polarization #Spin transistor #Zeeman effect #Zero field splitting #cond-mat.mes-hall
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.106.206602
published as Phys. Rev. Lett. 106, 206602 (2011) · 4 pages, 3 figures; references added, a few minor changes
arxiv created 2011/05/13 · openalex publication_date 2011/05/20 · arxiv updated 2011/08/17 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
Recent theoretical investigations have shown that spin currents can be generated by passing electric currents through spin-orbit coupled mesoscopic systems. Measuring these spin currents has, however, not been achieved to date. We show how mesoscopic spin currents in lateral heterostructures can be measured with a single-channel voltage probe. In the presence of a spin current, the charge current I(qpc) through the quantum point contact connecting the probe is odd in an externally applied Zeeman field B, while it is even in the absence of spin current. Furthermore, the zero-field derivative ∂(B)I(qpc) is proportional to the magnitude of the spin current, with a proportionality coefficient that can be determined in an independent measurement. We confirm these findings numerically.