Observation of the inverse spin Hall effect in the topological crystalline insulator SnTe using spin pumping

Abstract

Topological crystalline insulator SnTe is a promising material for future spintronics applications because of the strong spin-orbit coupling and surface states protected by the mirror symmetry of the crystal. In this paper, using a high-quality epitaxial (001)-oriented Fe/SnTe/CdTe/ZnTe heterostructure grown on GaAs, we successfully observe the inverse spin Hall effect in SnTe induced by spin pumping, which is confirmed by detailed analyses of the dependence of the electromotive force on the microwave power, magnetic-field angle, and temperature. By a rough estimation, a relatively large spin Hall angle of \ensuremath{\sim}0.01 is obtained for bulk SnTe at room temperature. This large value may be partially caused by the surface states. Our result suggests that SnTe can be used for efficient spin-charge current conversion.