Realization of a Room-Temperature Spin Dynamo: The Spin Rectification Effect

We demonstrate a room temperature spin dynamo where the precession of electron spins in ferromagnets driven by microwaves manifests itself in a collective way by generating d.c. currents. The current/power ratio is at least three orders of magnitude larger than that found previously for spin-driven currents in semiconductors. The observed bipolar nature and intriguing symmetry are fully explained by the spin rectification effect via which the nonlinear combination of spin and charge dynamics creates d.c. currents.