Generation of charge current by the inverse Stern-Gerlach effect in semiconductors

In the 100 years since the Stern-Gerlach experiment, ideas to use inhomogeneous magnetic fields for spintronics have been rare. In the theory here, the authors consider an inverse Stern-Gerlach effect in solid state systems of reduced dimension, in which charge current is produced by an injected carrier spin polarization in a nonuniform field. They find the combination of counter-flowing spin plus spin relaxation leads to interesting dynamics that produce a ``Stern-Gerlach'' potential, while at the same time reducing the spin transport length.