Abstract
We study the role of electron-electron interactions for spin-polarized transport using the Boltzmann equation, and derive a set of coupled transport equations. For spin-polarized transport the electron-electron interactions are important, because they tend to equilibrate the momentum of the two-spin species. This “spin drag” effect enhances the resistivity of the system. The enhancement is stronger the lower the dimension is, and should be measurable in, for example, a two-dimensional electron gas with ferromagnetic contacts. We also include spin-flip scattering, which has two effects: it equilibrates the spin density imbalance and, provided it has a non--wave component, also a current imbalance.
- Received 6 July 2001
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.64.245308
©2001 American Physical Society