  It has been shown that tunneling of spin-polarized electrons through a
semiconductor barrier is accompanied by generation of an electric current in
the plane of the interfaces. The direction of this interface current is
determined by the spin orientation of the electrons, in particular the current
changes its direction if the spin orientation changes the sign. Microscopic
origin of such a 'tunneling spin-galvanic' effect is the spin-orbit
coupling-induced dependence of the barrier transparency on the spin orientation
and the wavevector of electrons.
