Spin-to-Charge Conversion of Mesoscopic Spin Currents

Abstract: Recent theoretical investigations have shown that spin currents can be generated by passing electric currents through spin-orbit coupled mesoscopic systems. Measuring these spin currents has however not been achieved to date. We show how mesoscopic spin currents in lateral heterostructures can be measured with a single-channel voltage probe. In the presence of a spin current, the charge current $I_{\rm qpc}$ through the quantum point contact connecting the probe is odd in an externally applied Zeeman field $B$, while it is even in the absence of spin current. Furthermore, the zero field derivative $\partial_B I_{\rm qpc}$ is proportional to the magnitude of the spin current, with a proportionality coefficient that can be determined in an independent measurement. We confirm these findings numerically.