Spin-current in generic hybrid structures due to interfacial spin-orbit scattering

Abstract

We demonstrate a general principle that hybrid structures of any sort inevitably will give rise to a pure spin-current flowing parallel to the interface region when a charge-current is injected. This stems from the broken mirror symmetry near the interface which gives rise to spin-orbit coupling that deflects incoming electrons in a spin-discriminating fashion. We establish a general analytical condition for the appearance of this effect, and calculate the transverse spin-current explicitly using two different models. In addition, we investigate how the process of Andreev-reflection influences this phenomenon in the scenario where one of the materials is superconducting.

4 pages, 3 figures. Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. Lett

References in corpus (5)

• Dissipationless Quantum Spin Current at Room Temperature
• Direct electronic measurement of the spin Hall effect
• Specular Andreev reflection in graphene
• Detection of current-induced spins by ferromagnetic contacts
• Tunneling conductance of ferromagnet/noncentrosymmetric superconductor junctions

Cited by in corpus (19)

• Interface-generated spin currents
• Spin-orbit coupling as a source of long-range triplet proximity effect in superconductor-ferromagnet hybrid structures
• Perspectives of Electrically generated spin currents in ferromagnetic materials
• Interfacial spin-orbit torques
• Magnetoanisotropic Andreev Reflection in Ferromagnet/Superconductor Junctions
• Ballistic spin transport in the presence of interfaces with strong spin-orbit coupling
• Magnetoanisotropic spin-triplet Andreev reflection in ferromagnet-Ising superconductor junctions
• General framework for transport in spin-orbit-coupled superconducting heterostructures: Nonuniform spin-orbit coupling and spin-orbit-active interfaces
• Nonlinear Superconducting Magnetoelectric Effect
• Spin Currents and Spontaneous Magnetization at Twin Boundaries of Noncentrosymmetric Superconductors
• Boundary conditions for spin and charge diffusion in the presence of interfacial spin-orbit coupling
• Coexistence of $p$-wave magnetism and superconductivity
• Quasiclassical boundary conditions for spin-orbit coupled interfaces with spin-charge conversion
• Pseudo-Ising superconductivity induced by $p$-wave magnetism
• Ginzburg-Landau description of twin boundaries in noncentrosymmetric superconductors
• Spin Current in Junctions composed of Multi-band Superconductors with a Spin-density Wave
• Spin-current absorption by inhomogeneous spin-orbit coupling
• Large spin-charge interconversion induced by interfacial spin-orbit coupling in a highly conducting all-metallic system
• Quantification of interfacial spin-charge conversion in metal/insulator hybrid structures by generalized boundary conditions