Optically controllable magnetism in atomically thin semiconductors.

Sci Adv

Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA.

Published: September 2022

AI Article Synopsis

  • The study explores how ferromagnetic order in electrostatically doped monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) can be controlled at zero magnetic field using local optical pumping.
  • By employing circular dichroism techniques, researchers demonstrated that an optical pump can create a significant charge-carrier spin polarization, stabilizing long-range magnetic order in materials.
  • The findings suggest that using local optical pumps to control magnetism could lead to advancements in spintronic and optical technologies, and offer new research opportunities in the behavior of two-dimensional electron gases.

Article Abstract

We report evidence that ferromagnetic order in electrostatically doped, monolayer transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) semiconductors can be stabilized and controlled at zero magnetic field by local optical pumping. We use circular dichroism (CD) in reflectivity from excitonic states as a spatially resolved probe of charge-carrier spin polarization. At electron densities ~ 10 cm, a diffraction-limited, circularly polarized optical pump breaks symmetry between oppositely polarized magnetic states and stabilizes long-range magnetic order, with carrier polarization exceeding 80% over an 8 μm by 5 μm extent. In time-resolved measurements with pulsed optical excitation, we observe that magnetic interactions amplify the initial pump-induced spin polarization by more than an order of magnitude. The optical control of magnetism with local optical pumps will unlock advancements in spin and optical technologies and provides a versatile tool in the study of correlated phases in two-dimensional electron gases.

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Source
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9524837PMC
http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abq7650DOI Listing

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