Directional interlayer spin-valley transfer in two-dimensional heterostructures

Van der Waals heterostructures formed by two different monolayer semiconductors have emerged as a promising platform for new optoelectronic and spin/valleytronic applications. In addition to its atomically thin nature, a two-dimensional semiconductor heterostructure is distinct from its three-dimens...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature communications 2016-12, Vol.7 (1), p.13747-13747, Article 13747
Main Authors: Schaibley, John R., Rivera, Pasqual, Yu, Hongyi, Seyler, Kyle L., Yan, Jiaqiang, Mandrus, David G., Taniguchi, Takashi, Watanabe, Kenji, Yao, Wang, Xu, Xiaodong
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
140/125
639/766/119/1001
639/925/357/1018
CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSICS
Electrons
Humanities and Social Sciences
MATERIALS SCIENCE
multidisciplinary
Physics
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Semiconductors
Spectrum analysis
spintronics
two-dimensional materials
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Summary:Van der Waals heterostructures formed by two different monolayer semiconductors have emerged as a promising platform for new optoelectronic and spin/valleytronic applications. In addition to its atomically thin nature, a two-dimensional semiconductor heterostructure is distinct from its three-dimensional counterparts due to the unique coupled spin-valley physics of its constituent monolayers. Here, we report the direct observation that an optically generated spin-valley polarization in one monolayer can be transferred between layers of a two-dimensional MoSe 2 –WSe 2 heterostructure. Using non-degenerate optical circular dichroism spectroscopy, we show that charge transfer between two monolayers conserves spin-valley polarization and is only weakly dependent on the twist angle between layers. Our work points to a new spin-valley pumping scheme in nanoscale devices, provides a fundamental understanding of spin-valley transfer across the two-dimensional interface, and shows the potential use of two-dimensional semiconductors as a spin-valley generator in two-dimensional spin/valleytronic devices for storing and processing information. Van der Waals heterostructures offer a platform for harnessing the spin-valley degree of freedom for information processing. Here, the authors transfer optically generated spin-valley polarization from one layer to another in a two-dimensional molybdenum diselenide–tungsten diselenide heterostructure.
ISSN:2041-1723
2041-1723
DOI:10.1038/ncomms13747