Patent ID: 8093897

Claim:
A method of detecting spin polarization in a subject material, the method comprising: applying a potential difference across the subject material causing an electrical current to flow across the subject material, thereby inducing carrier polarization within the subject material in a direction perpendicular to the direction of current flow, carriers of one spin orientation concentrating at a first edge of the subject material and carriers of the opposite orientation concentrating at a second edge of the subject material, opposite to the first edge under the action of the Spin Hall Effect (SHE); placing a ferromagnetic material in contact with the subject material to allow for the spin tunneling of carriers from the subject material into the ferromagnetic material in at least a portion adjacent one of the first or second edges of the subject material; and measuring the tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR) between the ferromagnetic material and the subject material at the first or second edge.