半导体中纯自旋流的探测

Measurement of pure spin currents in semiconductors

自旋电子学是利用电子的自旋而非电子的电荷作为信息载体而发展的物理和电子器件研究的分支领域.半导体中自旋流的测量在自旋电子学中起关键作用.本文从自旋流的基本性质出发,简要回顾了目前国际上探测自旋流的实验手段,以及作者最近提出的有关自旋流的光学效应和以此直接测量半导体中纯自旋流的理论.

A new field has emerged called spintronics （spin-based electronics）, where the spin of electrons rather than the charge carries information. This may offer opportunities for a new generation of electronic devices. Measuring spin currents in semiconductors plays a key role in spintronics. In this review article, starting from the basic properties of spin currents and the current experimental techniques for spin current measurements, we briefly introduce our theory on optical effects of spin currents in the direct-gap semiconductors, i.e., the Faraday rotation and nonlinear optics, which provide a direct measurement of pure spin currents in semiconductors.