Photo-Induced Inverse Spin Hall Effect in Au/InP hybrid structure

Photo-induced inverse spin Hall effect (ISHE) measurements on a Au/InP metal-semiconductor junction are performed. Spin polarized electrons, which are generated in InP by the circularly polarized laser light of 2.33 eV (532 nm), provide a net spin current in thin Au-layer after crossing the Schottky barrier. This generates a transverse electric current because of large spin orbit coupling in Au-layer. ISHE origin of the measured signal is confirmed by a linear variation of the spin current with the degree of circular polarization of incident light. Furthermore, angle dependence of spin current matches well with the predicted trends.