I originally thought that the real part of the spin mixing conductance represented how much spin current passes through a ferromanget/normal metal interface and that the imaginary part represents how much spin current is absorbed at the interface. However, as I've read more, this explanation doesn't seem to be correct.
What is the most useful way to think about the real and imaginary parts of the spin mixing conductance?
Hi Ryan,
Can you provide me with the literature where you found the above definition of spin mixing conductance?
Spin dependent conductance describes the transport of spins collinear to the magnetization direction. They are mostly used to describe transport in GMR devices using two channel conduction.
Whereas Spin mixing conductance is a complex quantity which find relevance in the transport of spins across two non-collinear ferromagnets or ferromagnet and interface{Ref 1}. The mixing conductance rotates spins around the magnetization axis of the ferromagnet. It contains information about the transport of spins oriented in perpendicular direction to the magnetization of the ferromagnetic reservoir.
The real part of the mixing conductance describes processes at the contacts in which spins perpendicular to the magnetization direction, are transmitted or reflected obeying timer-reversal symmetry. On the other hand, the imaginary part of the mixing conductance describes processes in which the spins precess around the magnetization vector of the ferromagnet. As a result of the precession, the orientation of the spin changes. The latter processes are antisymmetric with respect to time reversal{Ref 2}.
{1}: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.84.2481
{2}: 10.1103/PhysRevB.62.5700
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