Ferromagnetic/Nonmagnetic Nanostructures for the Electrical Measurement of the Spin Hall Effect

Spin-orbitronics is based on the ability of spin-orbit interactions to achieve the conversion between charge currents and pure spin currents. As the precise evaluation of the conversion efficiency becomes a crucial issue, the need for straightforward ways to observe this conversion has emerged as one of the main challenges in spintronics. Here, we propose a simple device, akin to the ferromagnetic/nonmagnetic bilayers used in most spin-orbit torques experiments, and consisting of a spin Hall effect wire connected to two transverse ferromagnetic electrodes. We show that this system allows probing electrically the direct and inverse conversion in a spin Hall effect system and measuring both the spin Hall angle and the spin diffusion length. By applying this method to several spin Hall effect materials (Pt, Pd, Au, Ta, W), we show that it represents a promising tool for the metrology of spin-orbit materials.