Spin current; Experimental and theoretical aspects

Maekawa, Sadamichi; Adachi, Hiroto; Uchida, Kenichi*; Ieda, Junichi   ; Saito, Eiji

The flow of electron spin, the so-called "spin current", is a key concept in the recent progress in spintronics. When the spin current interacts with the magnetic moment in a ferromagnetic metal, the angular momentum and energy conservations give rise to the spin transfer torque and spin-motive force, respectively. When it is injected into a non-magnetic metal attached to a ferromagnet, the electric current is induced through the spin-charge conversion mechanism (inverse spin Hall effect). The generation and manipulation of the spin current and a variety of novel phenomena given by the spin current, including the spin Seebeck effect and spin-motive force, are discussed.