Pure spin currents and the associated electrical voltage

We present a generalized Landauer-Büttiker transport theory for multiterminal spin transport in the presence of spin-orbit interaction. Using this theory we point out that there exists equilibrium spin currents and nonequilibrium pure spin currents, without any magnetic element in the system. Quantitative results are presented for a Y-shaped conductor. It is shown that pure spin currents cause a voltage drop and, hence, can be measured.     

Exact-exchange spin-current density-functional theory

A spin-current density-functional theory (SCDFT) is introduced, which takes into account the currents of the spin density and thus currents of the magnetization in addition to the electron density, the noncollinear spin density, and the density current, which are considered in standard current-spin-density-functional theory. An exact-exchange Kohn-Sham formalism based on SCDFT is presented, which represents a general framework for the treatment of magnetic and spin properties. As an illustration, an oxygen atom in a magnetic field is treated with the new approach.     

Identification of transverse spin currents in noncollinear magnetic structures

In this Letter we construct a spinor transport theory and derive the equations of motion for the distribution functions for currents in noncollinear magnetic multilayers. We find the length scale which characterizes the transverse spin current is of the order of 3 nm for a ferromagnetic 3d transition metal such as Co; this alters one's prediction of the spin torque generated for free magnetic layers less than 3 nm. In the limit of large exchange splitting we reproduce the results previously found for spin currents across noncollinear multilayers inasmuch as there are no transverse spin currents in the layers themselves in this limit.     

Thermoelectric spin diffusion in a ferromagnetic metal

We present a semiclassical theory of spin diffusion in a ferromagnetic metal subject to a temperature gradient. Spin-flip scattering can generate pure thermal spin currents by short-circuiting spin channels while suppressing spin accumulations. A thermally induced spin density is locally generated when the energy dependence of the density of states is spin polarized.     

Longitudinal spin waves in a dilute bose gas

We present a kinetic theory for a dilute noncondensed Bose gas of two-level atoms that predicts the transient spin segregation observed in a recent experiment. The underlying mechanism driving spin currents in the gas is due to a mean-field effect arising from the quantum interference between the direct and exchange scattering of atoms in different spin states. We numerically solve the spin Boltzmann equation, using a one-dimensional model, and find excellent agreement with experimental data.     

Simple band theory interpretation of the spin polarization of tunnel currents in nickel and some nickel alloys

Measurements of spin polarization of tunnel currents from nickel films are shown to be compatible with a simple band theory interpretation.     

Experimental evidence of self-localized and propagating spin wave modes in obliquely magnetized current-driven nanocontacts

Through detailed experimental studies of the angular dependence of spin wave excitations in nanocontact-based spin-torque oscillators, we demonstrate that two distinct spin wave modes can be excited, with different frequency, threshold currents, and frequency tunability. Using analytical theory and micromagnetic simulations we identify one mode as an exchange-dominated propagating spin wave, and the other as a self-localized nonlinear spin wave bullet. Wavelet-based analysis of the simulations indicates that the apparent simultaneous excitation of both modes results from rapid mode hopping induced by the Oersted field.     

Chern–Simons theory with vector fermion matter

We study three-dimensional conformal field theories described by U(N) Chern?CSimons theory at level k coupled to massless fermions in the fundamental representation. By solving a Schwinger?CDyson equation in light-cone gauge, we compute the exact planar free energy of the theory at finite temperature on ?² as a function of the ??t?Hooft coupling ??=N/k. Employing a dimensional reduction regularization scheme, we find that the free energy vanishes at |??|=1; the conformal theory does not exist for |??|>1. We analyze the operator spectrum via the anomalous conservation relation for higher spin currents, and in particular show that the higher spin currents do not develop anomalous dimensions at leading order in 1/N. We present an integral equation whose solution in principle determines all correlators of these currents at leading order in 1/N and present explicit perturbative results for all three-point functions up to two loops. We also discuss a light-cone Hamiltonian formulation of this theory where a W _?? algebra arises. The maximally supersymmetric version of our theory is ABJ model with one gauge group taken to be U(1), demonstrating that a pure higher spin gauge theory arises as a limit of string theory.     

Poincaré gauge theory from self-coupling

Poincaré gauge theory is derived from a linear theory by the method suggested by Gupta for deriving Einstein’s general relativity from the linear theory of a spin-2 field. Non-linearity is introduced by requiring that a set of tensor fields be coupled to the Noether currents of the Poincaré group (energy-momentum and spin).     

Spin-current pump in silicene

We report a theoretical study of pumped spin currents in a silicene-based pump device, where two time-dependent staggered potentials are introduced through the perpendicular electric fields and a magnetic insulator is considered in between the two pumping potentials to magnetize the Dirac electrons. It is shown that giant spin currents can be generated in the pump device because the pumping can be optimal for each transport mode, the pumping current is quantized. By controlling the relevant parameters of the device, both pure spin currents and fully spin-polarized currents can be obtained.Our results may shed a new light on the generation of pumped spin currents in Dirac-electron systems.     

Torsion vector and variableG

In the Einstein-Cartan theory coupled to a classical spin fluid only the traceless part of the torsion field can be related to spin. Here the theory is generalized by allowing intrinsic dilation currents which couple algebraically to the torsion trace. The intrinsic dilation current is interpreted as the relative change of intrinsic length scales relative to the gravitational length scale. By a dilation current conservation law, one finds the scale function between the atomic length scales and the gravitational length scales. This is in effect a dynamic unification of the atomic and gravitational units of measurement. The theory is applied to the Friedmann-Robertson-Walker cosmology, and physical effects in the solar system are considered.     

The role of gauge symmetry in spintronics

In this work we employ a field theoretical approach to explain the nature of the non-conserved spin current in spintronics. In particular, we consider the usual U(1) gauge theory for the electromagnetism at classical level in order to obtain the broken continuity equation involving the spin current and spin-transfer torque. Inspired by the recent work of A. Vernes, B. L. Gyorffy and P. Weinberger where they obtain such an equation in terms of relativistic quantum mechanics, we formalize their result in terms of the well known currents of field theory such as the Bargmann–Wigner current and the chiral current. Thus, an interpretation of spintronics is provided in terms of Noether currents (conserved or not) and symmetries of the electromagnetism. In fact, the main result of the present work is that the non-conservation of the spin current is associated with the gauge invariance of physical observables where the breaking term is proportional to the chiral current. Moreover, we generalize their result by including the electromagnetic field as a dynamical field instead of an external one.     

Perspectives of electrically generated spin currents in ferromagnetic materials

Spin-orbit coupling enables charge currents to give rise to spin currents and vice versa, which has applications in non-volatile magnetic memories, miniature microwave oscillators, thermoelectric converters and Terahertz devices. In the past two decades, a considerable amount of research has focused on electrical spin current generation in different types of nonmagnetic materials. However, electrical spin current generation in ferromagnetic materials has only recently been actively investigated. Due to the additional symmetry breaking by the magnetization, ferromagnetic materials generate spin currents with different orientations of spin direction from those observed in nonmagnetic materials. Studies centered on ferromagnets where spin-orbit coupling plays an important role in transport open new possibilities to generate and detect spin currents. We summarize recent developments on this subject and discuss unanswered questions in this emerging field.     

Thermal spin-transfer torque in magnetoelectronic devices

We predict that the magnetization direction of a ferromagnet can be reversed by the spin-transfer torque accompanying spin-polarized thermoelectric heat currents. We illustrate the concept by applying a finite-element theory of thermoelectric transport in disordered magnetoelectronic circuits and devices to metallic spin valves. When thermalization is not complete, a spin heat accumulation vector is found in the normal-metal spacer, i.e., a directional imbalance in the temperature of majority and minority spins.     

Solving the ultranonlocality problem in time-dependent spin-density-functional theory

It has been known for some time that the exchange-correlation potential in time-dependent density-functional theory is an intrinsically nonlocal functional of the density as soon as one goes beyond the adiabatic approximation. In this paper we show that a much more severe nonlocality problem, with a completely different physical origin, plagues the exchange-correlation potentials in time-dependent spin-density functional theory. We show how the use of the spin current density as a basic variable solves this problem, and we provide an explicit local expression for the exchange-correlation fields as functionals of the spin currents.     

Molecular logic gates based on spin caloritronic transport properties of Mn phthalocyanine nanoribbon

Based on the density functional theory along with nonequilibrium Green's function technique, we investigate the spin caloritronic transport properties of ferromagnetic one-dimensional Mn phthalocyanine nanoribbon under different magnetic configurations. The results demonstrate the thermally-driven spin-dependent currents depend strongly on the choice of magnetic configuration. The underlying mechanism is analyzed by the Fermi-Dirac distribution function, spin-resolved transmission spectra, band structures and current spectra. And based on those intriguing spin caloritronic transport properties, we design thermal spin AND, OR and NOT molecular logic gates.     

Spin-to-charge conversion of mesoscopic spin currents

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.     

Detection of spin bias in a four-terminal quantum-dot ring

In this work, via introducing local Rashba spin-orbit interaction in a four-terminal quantum-dot (QD) ring, we show that the spin bias in the transverse terminals induces apparent charge currents in the longitudinal terminals, accompanied by the similar magnitude and opposite directions of them. The reason is that the Rashba interaction destroys the space-reversal symmetry of this structure and causes the spin dependence of the quantum interference. Then the opposite-spin currents driven by the spin bias present different magnitudes, which gives rise to the emergence of finite charge currents in the longitudinal terminals. Via these results, we suggest that the spin bias can be measured by observing the longitudinal charge currents, which provides an electrical but practical scheme to detect the spin bias (or spin current).     

Spinor Boltzmann Equation with Two Momenta at the Fermi Level

Based on the formalism of Keldysh's nonequilibrium Green function, we establish a two momenta spinor Boltzmann equation for longitudinal scalar distribution function and transverse vector distribution function. The longitudinal charge currents, transverse spin currents and the continuity equations satisfied by them are then studied, it indicates that both the charge currents and spin currents decay oscillately along with position, which is due to the momenta integral over the Fermi surface. We also compare our charge currents and spin currents with the corresponding results of one momentum spinor Boltzmann equation, the differences are obvious.     

Spinor Boltzmann Equation with Two Momenta at the Fermi Level

Based on the formalism of Keldysh's nonequilibrium Green function, we establish a two momenta spinor Boltzmann equation for longitudinal scalar distribution function and transverse vector distribution function. The longitudinal charge currents, transverse spin currents and the continuity equations satisfied by them are then studied, it indicates that both the charge currents and spin currents decay oscillately along with position, which is due to the momenta integral over the Fermi surface. We also compare our charge currents and spin currents with the corresponding results of one momentum spinor Boltzmann equation, the differences are obvious.