The Science "breakthrough of the year" in 2004 selected "Electron spin" as one of the breakthroughs. This "breakthrough" included 3 experiments, one of which is the spin Hall effect measurement by David Awschalom's group. Both the experiment and the theory behind it are correct. This is the "extrinsic" spin Hall effect which is a different effect than the "intrinsic" spin Hall effect described in this story.

None of the fictional Chinese scientists in this story worked on the extrinsic spin Hall effect.