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Van der Waals heterostructures for spintronics and opto-spintronics

Nature Nanotechnology volume 16, pages 856–868 (2021)Cite this article

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Abstract

The large variety of 2D materials and their co-integration in van der Waals heterostructures enable innovative device engineering. In addition, their atomically thin nature promotes the design of artificial materials by proximity effects that originate from short-range interactions. Such a designer approach is particularly compelling for spintronics, which typically harnesses functionalities from thin layers of magnetic and non-magnetic materials and the interfaces between them. Here we provide an overview of recent progress in 2D spintronics and opto-spintronics using van der Waals heterostructures. After an introduction to the forefront of spin transport research, we highlight the unique spin-related phenomena arising from spin–orbit and magnetic proximity effects. We further describe the ability to create multifunctional hybrid heterostructures based on van der Waals materials, combining spin, valley and excitonic degrees of freedom. We end with an outlook on perspectives and challenges for the design and production of ultracompact all-2D spin devices and their potential applications in conventional and quantum technologies.

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Fig. 1: Spin injection and spin transport.
Fig. 2: Proximity effects.
Fig. 3: CSI in vdW heterostructures.
Fig. 4: Magnetic proximity effects in graphene.
Fig. 5: Magnetic proximity effects in TMDCs.

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Acknowledgements

We thank D. Torres (ICN2) for help in implementing the 3D device models used in the figures. J.F.S. and S.O.V. acknowledge support of the European Union’s Horizon 2020 FET-PROACTIVE project TOCHA under grant agreement 824140, the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) through award number OSR-2018-CRG7-3717 and MINECO under contract numbers PID2019-111773RB-I00/AEI/10.13039/501100011033, RYC2019-028368-I/AEI/10.13039/50110001103 and SEV-2017-0706 Severo Ochoa. J.F., S.R. and S.O.V. acknowledge support from the European Union Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Program under contract number 881603 (Graphene Flagship) and J.F. acknowledges support from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German research Foundation) under grant numbers SFB 1277 (project-id:314695032) and SPP 2244. R.K.K. acknowledges support from the US DOE-BES (grant number DE-SC0016379), AFOSR MURI 2D MAGIC (grant number FA9550-19-1-0390) and NSF MRSEC (grant number DMR-2011876).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICN2), CSIC and The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST), Barcelona, Spain

    Juan F. Sierra, Stephan Roche & Sergio O. Valenzuela

  2. Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany

    Jaroslav Fabian

  3. Department of Physics, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA

    Roland K. Kawakami

  4. Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats (ICREA), Barcelona, Spain

    Stephan Roche & Sergio O. Valenzuela

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Sierra, J.F., Fabian, J., Kawakami, R.K. et al. Van der Waals heterostructures for spintronics and opto-spintronics. Nat. Nanotechnol. 16, 856–868 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41565-021-00936-x

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