No Arabic abstract
A recent 2D spinFET concept proposes to switch electrostatically between two separate sublayers with strong and opposite intrinsic Rashba effects. This concept exploits the spin-layer locking mechanism present in centrosymmetric materials with local dipole fields, where a weak electric field can easily manipulate just one of the spin channels. Here, we propose a novel monolayer material within this family, lutetium oxide iodide (LuIO). It displays one of the largest Rashba effects among 2D materials (up to $k_R = 0.08$ {AA}$^{-1}$), leading to a $pi/2$ rotation of the spins over just 1 nm. The monolayer had been predicted to be exfoliable from its experimentally-known 3D bulk counterpart, with a binding energy even lower than graphene. We characterize and model with first-principles simulations the interplay of the two gate-controlled parameters for such devices: doping and spin channel selection. We show that the ability to split the spin channels in energy diminishes with doping, leading to specific gate-operation guidelines that can apply to all devices based on spin-layer locking.
The generally accepted view that spin polarization is induced by the asymmetry of the global crystal space group has limited the search for spintronics [1] materials to non-centrosymmetric materials. Recently it has been suggested that spin polarization originates fundamentally from local atomic site asymmetries [2], and therefore centrosymmetric materials may exhibit previously overlooked spin polarizations. Here by using spin- and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (spin-ARPES), we report helical spin texture induced by local Rashba effect (R-2) in centrosymmetric monolayer PtSe$_2$ film. First-principles calculations and effective analytical model support the spin-layer locking picture: in contrast to the spin splitting in conventional Rashba effect (R-1), the opposite spin polarizations induced by R-2 are degenerate in energy while spatially separated in the top and bottom Se layers. These results not only enrich our understanding of spin polarization physics, but also may find applications in electrically tunable spintronics.
Spin polarization effects in nonmagnetic materials are generally believed as an outcome of spin-orbit coupling provided that the global inversion symmetry is lacking, also known as spin-momentum locking. The recently discovered hidden spin polarization indicates that specific atomic site asymmetry could also induce measurable spin polarization, leading to a paradigm shift to centrosymmetric crystals for potential spintronic applications. Here, combining spin- and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy and theoretical calculations, we report distinct spin-layer locking phenomena surrounding different high-symmetry momenta in a centrosymmetric, layered material BiOI. The measured spin is highly polarized along the Brillouin zone boundary, while is almost vanishing around the zone center due to its nonsymmorphic crystal structure. Our work not only demonstrates the existence of hidden spin polarization, but also uncovers the microscopic mechanism of the way spin, momentum and layer locking to each other, shedding lights on the design metrics for future spintronic devices.
Valley pseudospin in two-dimensional (2D) transition-metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) allows optical control of spin-valley polarization and intervalley quantum coherence. Defect states in TMDs give rise to new exciton features and theoretically exhibit spin-valley polarization; however, experimental achievement of this phenomenon remains challenges. Here, we report unambiguous valley pseudospin of defect-bound localized excitons in CVD-grown monolayer MoS2; enhanced valley Zeeman splitting with an effective g-factor of -6.2 is observed. Our results reveal that all five d-orbitals and the increased effective electron mass contribute to the band shift of defect states, demonstrating a new physics of the magnetic responses of defect-bound localized excitons, strikingly different from that of A excitons. Our work paves the way for the manipulation of the spin-valley degrees of freedom through defects toward valleytronic devices.
We investigate the impact of mechanical strains and a perpendicular electric field on the electronic and magnetic ground-state properties of two-dimensional monolayer CrI$_3$ using density functional theory. We propose a minimal spin model Hamiltonian, consisting of symmetric isotropic exchange interactions, magnetic anisotropy energy, and Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya (DM) interactions, to capture most pertinent magnetic properties of the system. We compute the mechanical strain and electric field dependence of various spin-spin interactions. Our results show that both the amplitudes and signs of the exchange interactions can be engineered by means of strain, while the electric field affects only their amplitudes. However, strain and electric fields affect both the directions and amplitudes of the DM vectors. The amplitude of the magnetic anisotropy energy can also be substantially modified by an applied strain. We show that in comparison with an electric field, strain can be more efficiently used to manipulate the magnetic and electronic properties of the system. Notably, such systematic tuning of the spin interactions is essential for the engineering of room-temperature spintronic nanodevices.
Two-dimensional (2D) MoS$_2$ has been intensively investigated for its use in the fields of microelectronics, nanoelectronics, and optoelectronics. However, intrinsic 2D MoS$_2$ is usually used as the n-type semiconductor due to the unintentional sulphur vacancies and surface gas adsorption.The synthesis and characterization of 2D MoS$_2$ semiconductor of p-type are crucial for the development of relevant p-n junction devices, as well as the practical applications of 2D MoS$_2$ in the next-generation CMOS integrated circuit. Here, we synthesize high-quality, wafer-scale, 2D p-type MoS$_2$ (Mo$_{1-x}$Nb$_x$S$_2$) with various niobium (Nb) mole fractions from 0 to 7.6% by a creative two-step method. The dielectric functions of 2D Mo1-xNbxS2 are accurately determined by spectroscopic ellipsometry. We find that the increasing fraction of Nb dopant in 2D MoS$_2$ can modulate and promote the combination of A and B exciton peaks of 2D MoS$_2$. The direct causes of this impurity-tunable combination are interpreted as the joint influence of decreasing peak A and broadening peak B. We explain the broadening peak B as the multiple transitions from the impurity-induced valance bands to the conductive band minimum at K point of Brillouin zone by comparing and analyzing the simulated electronic structure of intrinsic and 2D Nb-doped MoS$_2$. A p-type FET based on the 2D Nb-doped MoS$_2$ was fabricated for characterization, and its working performance is expected to be adjustable as a function of concentration of Nb dopant according to our theoretical research. Our study is informative for comprehending optical and electronic properties of extrinsic 2D transitional metal dichalcogenides, which is important and imperative for the development and optimization of corresponding photonics and optoelectronics devices.