Spin polarization of gold films via transported (invited)

The spin injection technique has been adapted to a thin-film geometry. Measurements of the spin-coupled voltage Vs as a function of film thickness d result in a determination of the spin diffusion length δs =√DT1 with D the electron diffusion constant, in polycrystalline gold films. The conduction electron spin relaxation time T1 is found to be 4.6±2.5×10−11 s, for the temperature range 4 K