Spin-charge interconversion in heterostructures based on group-IV semiconductors

Spin-charge interconversion phenomena are ubiquitous in solid-state physics and represent a powerful tool to investigate spin transport in metals, semiconductors and metal/semiconductor heterostructures. The possibility to convert a spin current into a charge current (and vice versa) allows for the design of efficient spin injection/detection schemes, even without the use of ferromagnets, to unravel fundamental spin transport properties. The article reviews the recent advances in the investigation of the spin-charge interconversion phenomena in platforms based on group-IV semiconductors. Convenient experimental architectures to inject and detect spin currents in Ge and Si are discussed, as well as diffusion models for spin transport in these semiconductors.