Paper MI+2D-WeA11
Tunable Spin-polarized Edge Effects in Transition Metal Dichalcogenides on FM and AFM Substrates

Wednesday, October 23, 2019, 5:40 pm, Room A210

We explore proximity-induced ferromagnetism (FM) and antiferromagnetism (AFM) on transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD), focusing on molybdenum ditelluride (MoTe2) ribbons with zigzag and/or armchair edges, deposited on either a FM or an AFM substrate, e.g. such as FM europium oxide and AFM manganese oxide. A three-orbital tight-binding model allows to model MoTe2 monolayer structures in real space, incorporating the exchange and Rashba fields induced by proximity to the substrate. For in-gap Fermi levels, electronic modes in the nanoribbon are strongly spin-polarized and localized along the edges, acting as 1D conducting channels with tunable spin-polarized currents. We also study the effect of atomic defects on the 1D conducting channels and on the spin-polarized currents, finding that even in the presence of either Te and/or Mo vacancies, the spin-polarized current is nonvanishing. Hybrid structures such as the MoTe2/FM-substrate and/or MoTe2/AFM- substrate configuration can serve as building blocks for spintronic devices and provide versatile platforms to further understand proximity effects in diverse materials systems.

[1] N. Cortes et al, Phys. Rev. Lett. 122, 086401 (2019).

[2] N. Cortes et al, in preparation (2019).

N.C. acknowledges support from Conicyt grant 21160844, DGIIP and the hospitality of Ohio University. L.R. and P.A.O. acknowledge FONDECYT grant 1180914 and DGIIP USM internal grant. S. E. U. and O. A.-O. acknowledge support from NSF DMR-1508325.