Detection of electrically modulated inverse spin hall effect in an Fe/GaAs microdevice

We report the detection of the inverse spin Hall effect (ISHE) in n-gallium arsenide (n-GaAs) combined with electrical injection and modulation of the spin current. We use epitaxial ultrathin-Fe/GaAs injection contacts with strong in-plane magnetic anisotropy. This allows us to simultaneously perform Hanle spin-precession measurements on an Fe detection electrode and ISHE measurements in an applied in-plane hard-axis magnetic field. In this geometry, we can experimentally separate the ordinary from the spin-Hall signals. Electrical spin injection and detection are combined in our microdevice with an applied electrical drift current to modulate the spin distribution and spin current in the channel. The magnitudes and external field dependencies of the signals are quantitatively modeled by solving drift-diffusion and Hall-cross response equations.