Spin accumulation in ferromagnets

Abstract

Using a density matrix formulation for the effective action, we obtain a set of macroscopic equations that describe spin accumulation in a non-homogeneous ferromagnet. We give a new expression for the spin current which extends previous work by taking into account the symmetry of the ferromagnetic state through a careful treatment of the exchange term between the conduction electrons and the magnetization, i.e, d-electrons. We consider a simple application which has been discussed previously and show that in this case spin accumulation is an interface effect confirming earlier results arrived at by different methods.

10 pages, 2 figs