Observation of inverse spin Hall effect in bismuth selenide

Bismuth Selenide (Bi2Se3) is a topological insulator exhibiting helical spin\npolarization and strong spin-orbit coupling. The spin-orbit coupling links the\ncharge current to spin current via the spin Hall effect (SHE). We demonstrate a\nBi2Se3 spin detector by injecting the pure spin current from a magnetic\npermalloy layer to a Bi2Se3 thin film and detect the inverse SHE in Bi2Se3. The\nspin Hall angle of Bi2Se3 is found to be 0.0093 and the spin diffusion length\nin Bi2Se3 to be 6.2 nm at room temperature. Our results suggest that\ntopological insulators with strong spin-orbit coupling can be used in\nfunctional spintronic devices.\n