Bipolar spin switch

Science. 1993 Apr 16;260(5106):320-3. doi: 10.1126/science.260.5106.320.

Abstract

A thin ferromagnetic film can be used to polarize the spin axes of the electrons carrying an electric current in a manner loosely analogous with a light polarizer. When such a film is fabricated on a gold film, a nonequilibrium population of spin-polarized electrons is built up in the gold causing a "spin bottleneck" effect. The addition of a second ferromagnetic film results in a device whose output voltage depends on the orientation of the spins.