Spin current
As a spin current one is current of spins indicated, analogous to electric current , a current of the electric charges is.
Elementary particles , for example electrons , have certain properties that result from the four fundamental interactions in physics . In principle, these are quantized . In addition to the charge, the spin is also such a particle property. Spin currents can occur when particles move with a spin other than zero. In the case of an electric current, only charge transport usually occurs, since the entrained spins statistically average away. However, through preferred excitation of a spin alignment or magnetic fields , an asymmetry of the spin distribution can occur. Then there is also an effective spin current in the flow of particles.
Spin currents can occur both together with charge currents and as pure spin currents . In this case, the transported electrical charges are statically canceled, but not the spins. Spin currents can be generated , for example, by the spin Hall effect . Physics hopes that research into spin currents will lead to advances in the development of a spin transistor and also in the idea of the quantum computer .
Web links
- Press release from idw on June 14, 2011: Pure spin current on the crystal surface of Meta-vermilion ; University of Marseille and Leibniz Institute .