Spin accumulation in permalloy-ZnO heterostructures from both electrical injection and spin pumping

We report the results of room temperature spin injection and detection studies in ZnO using both electrical injection and spin pumping. At ferromagnetic resonance, an interfacial voltage with a constant polarity upon magnetization reversal is observed in permalloy-ZnO heterostructures, which is attributed to spin accumulation after ruling out other origins. Simultaneous electrical injection during spin pumping is achieved in samples with large interface resistance or insertion of a thin MgO layer at the interface of permalloy and ZnO. From the pumping frequency dependence of detected voltage, a spin lifetime of 32 ps is extracted for ZnO at room temperature, despite the fact that there was no Hanle effect observed in the same device using the conventional three-terminal DC measurement. (paper)