Spin-current-induced charge accumulation and electric current in semiconductor nanostructures with Rashba spin-orbit coupling

Abstract

We demonstrate that the flow of a longitudinal spin current with different spin polarizations will induce different patterns of charge accumulation in a two-terminal strip, or electric current distribution in a four-terminal Hall-bar structure, of two-dimensional electron gas with Rashba spin-orbit coupling. For an in-plane polarized spin current, charges will accumulate either at the two lateral edges or around the center of the strip structure, while for an out-of-plane polarized spin current, charge densities will show opposite signs at the two lateral edges, leading to a Hall voltage. Our calculation offers a different route to experimentally detect or differentiate pure spin currents with various spin polarizations. © 2007 The American Physical Society.