Search

The spin Hall effect is a spin current induced by an electric current, and its occurrence in semiconductors is a promising route to controlling spins and their transport. Here, the inverse spin Hall effect, in which an electric current is induced by a spin current, is observed in silicon for the first time.

Ferrimagnets possess multiple spin sub-lattices resulting in a complex magnon band structure and subtle spin transport across interfaces. Here, the authors show how the spin Seebeck effect, the thermal generation of pure spin current, may be an effective tool to study these magnetic excitations.

Observation of the entire dispersion relation for spin waves remains a challenge which prevents the full understanding of many intriguing magnetic properties. Here, the authors develop a table-top all-optical approach to map out the dispersion curve of pure-magnetostatic waves in magnetic films.

The spin Peltier effect produces a temperature difference along the direction of a spin current. Here, the authors use an active thermography technique to visualize the temperature modulation induced by a spin current injected into a magnetic insulator from an adjacent metal.

Whilst neutron scattering is a powerful tool for studying spin fluctuations in materials, its availability is limited to large-scale user facilities. Here, the authors demonstrate how the pumping of pure spin currents can be used as a desktop probe to detect an antiferromagnetic transition.

Manipulation of sample volume by spin current could lead to spintronics-based mechanical devices, such as actuators operating without electricity. Here, the authors report that the thickness of thin films of the ferromagnetic material Tb_0.3Dy_0.7Fe₂ changes in response to a spin current injected by means of spin Hall effects.

Long-range spin transport is essential for spintronics applications, but so far has only been achieved in magnets below their Curie temperature. Here, the authors report on efficient spin transport in paramagnetic insulator Gd₃Ga₅O₁₂ exposed to a moderate magnetic field exhibiting a spin diffusion length of 1.8 μm.

Spin current carrying angular momentum enables intriguing phenomena and many fascinating applications. Here the authors demonstrate that thermally driven spin Seebeck current can give rise to the mechanical torque when transmitting through a Y₃Fe₅O₁₂ micro cantilever.

Resonant inelastic X-ray scattering can be used to measure the spin current carried by magnons in the presence of temperature gradients across a magnetic insulator.

In the antiferromagnetic insulator Cr₂O₃ a strong modulation of the spin conduction with magnetic field near the Néel temperature is measured. By analogy with its charge counterpart, this effect is termed spin colossal magnetoresistance.

Spin current is generated by pumping from nuclear spin waves. The nuclear magnetic resonance is used to transfer angular momentum from the nuclei of an antiferromagnet to a propagating spin current that is subsequently collected in a distant electrode.

A thin layer of yttrium iron garnet coating on different materials can transform wasted heat into voltage. The process is based on the spin Seebeck effect and could lead to new types of application that make use of omnipresent wasted heat.

Researchers use spatially shaped light to control the direction of spin-wave emission from the ferrimagnetic insulator Gd_4/3Yb_2/3BiFe₅O₁₂. They capture the essential features of the observations by employing a simple model that maps the spatial profile of the pump pulse onto the dispersion relation of the spin wave.

Spin currents can be carried by electrons and by magnons. Experiments now show that, in one-dimensional spin chains, spin currents can also be carried by particle-like excitations known as spinons.

Physicists have come up with an innovative way of manipulating the direction of magnetization in a solid. The approach might be used to make low-power-consumption computer memory devices.

A second-order nonlinear thermoelectric effect can be used for making power generators using temperature fluctuations. Here, the authors report that a MoGe film on Y₃Fe₅O₁₂ generates a voltage proportional to the square of the temperature gradient.

Yi-Te Huang and colleagues demonstrate a microactuator driven by a spin-current volume effect. Alternating current and external magnetic field generates mechanical resonances in the amorphous magnetic film TbFeCo layered with non-magnetic metal.

Refracting light waves can split at two different angles, a phenomenon called birefringence, whereas for reflected waves the incident and reflected angle are usually the same. Here, using time-resolved magneto-optical microscopy the authors report the bi-reflection of magnetic spin waves when hybridising with elastic waves.

Scattering of electrons from defects and boundaries in mesoscopic samples is encoded in quantum interference patterns of magneto-conductance, but these patterns are difficult to interpret. Here the authors use machine learning to reconstruct electron wavefunction intensities and sample geometry from magneto-conductance data.

Triplons are elementary spin excitations characteristic of dimerized magnets, carrying a spin angular momentum one. Here, the authors report evidence for spin current of triplons via thermal transport measurements in a spin-dimer compound CuGeO₃.

The Joule heating free magnon spintronics advances conventional electronics but demands more magnon-based logic operations. Here the authors achieved the magnon spin valve functionality in a YIG/CoO/Co structure where the amplitude of transmitted magnon from the YIG layer is dependent on the relative alignment of the YIG and Co magnetization.

The transport and relaxation mechanisms in organic semiconductors are still insufficiently understood, but measurements now show that in these materials polarons carry pure spin currents over extended distances with long relaxation times, and uncover the role of spin-orbit coupling in this process.

Spins can act as mediators to interconvert electricity, light, sound, vibration and heat. This Progress article gives an overview of the recent advances associated with nanoscale spin conversion.

A ‘magneto-Peltier effect’ produces cooling or heating in a material without junctions, by forcing a change in angle between the current and magnetization in a single ferromagnetic nickel slab.

The conversion of a spin current into an electric signal is known as the inverse spin Hall effect, and is expected to enable the full potential of spintronic devices to be realized. Although the effect has been extensively studied in inorganic metals and semiconductors, it is now shown also to occur in a solution-processed organic polymer placed in proximity to a magnetic insulator.

Spin caloritronics focuses on the interaction of electron spins with heat currents. This Review describes newly discovered physical effects that have re-invigorated the field by stimulating further research into understanding the fundamentals of spin–phonon interactions, and providing new avenues to explore to improve current thermoelectric technology.

In the field of spintronics, coherent control of propagating magnons is considered a promising mechanism for information processing. Here, strong coupling between magnons and phonons in lutetium iron garnet gives rise to long-lived coherent beating.

Finding materials with large magnetization is highly desirable for technological applications. Here, a machine learning autonomous search and automated combinatorial synthesis reveal that multi-element alloys with Ir and Pt impurities have a magnetization exceeding the Slater-Pauling limit of Fe₇₅Co₂₅.

Spin transport is the key process for the operation of spinbased devices. Here the recent progress of spin transport in antiferromagnetic insulators (AFMI) is briefed. The observations of the temperature dependence of spin transmission, spin current switching in AFMI and the negative spin Hall magnetoresistance are discussed. The challenges for developing the functionality of antiferromagnetic insulator as well as the unresolved problems from the experimental observations are also discussed.