The Principle, Progress and State-of-Art Applications of Spin Hall Effect

Abstract Spin Hall effect (SHE) is a phenomenon caused by spin-orbit coupling effect, which is able to generate transverse spin currents by electrical current under external electric field. Contemporarily, it has been used as spin current detectors and generators in various experiments. This paper will discuss the basic principle, current experiments and applications of SHE. According to the analysis, SHEs in different heavy metal material is measured and compared. Besides, some spin Hall materials are believed to have potential in building better memories in massive computing tasks. Moreover, the spin Hall effect of light (SHEL) is also becoming an active research area. In the future, increasing number of spin Hall material will be discovered and the research of SHE will absolutely deepen the understanding of spin-orbit interactions in different physical systems. Overall, these results shed light on guiding further exploration of SHE.