We generalize magnetoelectronic circuit theory to account for spin transfer to and from the atomic lattice via interfacial spin-orbit coupling. This enables a proper treatment of spin transport at interfaces between a ferromagnet and a heavy-metal non-magnet. This generalized approach describes spin transport in terms of drops in spin and charge accumulations across the interface (as in the standard approach), but additionally includes the responses from in-plane electric fields and offsets in spin accumulations. A key finding is that in-plane electric fields give rise to spin accumulations and spin currents that can be polarized in any direction, generalizing the Rashba-Edelstein and spin Hall effects. The spin accumulations exert torques on the magnetization at the interface when they are misaligned from the magnetization. The additional out-of-plane spin currents exert torques via the spin-transfer mechanism on the ferromagnetic layer. To account for these phenomena we also describe spin torques within the generalized circuit theory. The additional effects included in this generalized circuit theory suggest modifications in the interpretations of experiments involving spin orbit torques, spin pumping, spin memory loss, the Rashba-Edelstein effect, and the spin Hall magnetoresistance.

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Transport calculations based on ab-initio band structures reveal large interface-generated spin currents at Co/Pt, Co/Cu, and Pt/Cu interfaces. These spin currents are driven by in-plane electric fields but flow out-of-plane, and can have similar strengths to spin currents generated by the spin Hall effect in bulk Pt. Each interface generates spin currents with polarization alongẑ×E, whereẑ is the interface normal and E denotes the electric field. The Co/Cu and Co/Pt interfaces additionally generate spin currents with polarization alongm×(ẑ×E), wherem gives the magnetization direction of Co. The latter spin polarization is controlled by-but not aligned with-the magnetization, providing a novel mechanism for generating spin torques in magnetic trilayers.