  We study theoretically the current-induced spin polarization effect in a
two-terminal mesoscopic structure which is composed of a semiconductor
two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) bar with Rashba spin-orbit (SO) interaction
and two attached ideal leads. The nonequilibrium spin density is calculated by
solving the scattering wave functions explicitly within the ballistic transport
regime. We found that for a Rashba SO system the electrical current can induce
spin polarization in the SO system as well as in the ideal leads. The induced
polarization in the 2DEG shows some qualitative features of the intrinsic spin
Hall effect. On the other hand, the nonequilibrium spin density in the ideal
leads, after being averaged in the transversal direction, is independent of the
distance measured from the lead/SO system interface, except in the vicinity of
the interface. Such a lead polarization effect can even be enhanced by the
presence of weak impurity scattering in the SO system and may be detectable in
real experiments.
