Inhomogeneous spin accumulation in Py/Au/Py spin valve

Abstract

We present that inhomogeneous spin accumulation in a Py/Au/Py spin valve is due to the formation of an edge point contact at the interface. Nonlocal measurements with different voltage probe configurations were carried out to understand the effect of probe location on the spin signal. The spin signal is strongly affected by the probe configuration because of inhomogeneous spin current distribution in the channel as well as different channel length depending on the probe position. Inhomogeneous spin accumulation initiating from the point contact induces the different distribution of spin accumulation flowing into a detector.