Revealing Hidden Spin Polarization in Centrosymmetric van der Waals Materials on Ultrafast Timescales

Fuente: arXiv
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Autores principales: Arnoldi, Benito, Zachritz, Sara L., Hedwig, Sebastian, Aeschlimann, Martin, Monti, Oliver L. A., Stadtmüller, Benjamin
Formato: Preprint
Publicado: 2023
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author Arnoldi, Benito
Zachritz, Sara L.
Hedwig, Sebastian
Aeschlimann, Martin
Monti, Oliver L. A.
Stadtmüller, Benjamin
author_facet Arnoldi, Benito
Zachritz, Sara L.
Hedwig, Sebastian
Aeschlimann, Martin
Monti, Oliver L. A.
Stadtmüller, Benjamin
contents One of the key challenges for spintronic and novel quantum technologies is to achieve active control of the spin angular momentum of electrons in nanoscale materials on ultrafast, femtosecond timescales. While conventional ferromagnetic materials and materials supporting spin texture suffer both from conceptional limitations in miniaturization and in efficiency of optical and electronic manipulation, non-magnetic centrosymmetric layered materials with hidden spin polarization may offer an alternative pathway to manipulate the spin degree of freedom by external stimuli. Here we demonstrate a novel approach to generate transient spin polarization on a femtosecond timescale in the otherwise spin-unpolarized band structure of the centrosymmetric 2H-stacked group VI transition metal dichalcogenide WSe$_{2}$. Using ultrafast optical excitation of a fullerene layer grown on top of WSe$_{2}$, we trigger an ultrafast interlayer electron transfer from the fullerene layer into the WSe$_{2}$ crystal. The resulting transient charging of the C$_{60}$/WSe$_{2}$ interface leads to a substantial interfacial electric field that by means of spin-layer-valley locking ultimately creates ultrafast spin polarization without the need of an external magnetic field. Our findings hence open a novel pathway for optically engineering spin functionalities such as the sub-picosecond generation and manipulation of ultrafast spin currents in 2D heterostructures.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2304_10237
institution arXiv
publishDate 2023
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Revealing Hidden Spin Polarization in Centrosymmetric van der Waals Materials on Ultrafast Timescales
Arnoldi, Benito
Zachritz, Sara L.
Hedwig, Sebastian
Aeschlimann, Martin
Monti, Oliver L. A.
Stadtmüller, Benjamin
Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
One of the key challenges for spintronic and novel quantum technologies is to achieve active control of the spin angular momentum of electrons in nanoscale materials on ultrafast, femtosecond timescales. While conventional ferromagnetic materials and materials supporting spin texture suffer both from conceptional limitations in miniaturization and in efficiency of optical and electronic manipulation, non-magnetic centrosymmetric layered materials with hidden spin polarization may offer an alternative pathway to manipulate the spin degree of freedom by external stimuli. Here we demonstrate a novel approach to generate transient spin polarization on a femtosecond timescale in the otherwise spin-unpolarized band structure of the centrosymmetric 2H-stacked group VI transition metal dichalcogenide WSe$_{2}$. Using ultrafast optical excitation of a fullerene layer grown on top of WSe$_{2}$, we trigger an ultrafast interlayer electron transfer from the fullerene layer into the WSe$_{2}$ crystal. The resulting transient charging of the C$_{60}$/WSe$_{2}$ interface leads to a substantial interfacial electric field that by means of spin-layer-valley locking ultimately creates ultrafast spin polarization without the need of an external magnetic field. Our findings hence open a novel pathway for optically engineering spin functionalities such as the sub-picosecond generation and manipulation of ultrafast spin currents in 2D heterostructures.
title Revealing Hidden Spin Polarization in Centrosymmetric van der Waals Materials on Ultrafast Timescales
topic Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2304.10237