All-optical switching of magnetization in atomically thin CrI3

Control of magnetism has attracted interest in achieving low-power and high-speed applications such as magnetic data storage and spintronic devices. Two-dimensional magnets allow for control of magnetic properties using the electric field, electrostatic doping and strain. In two-dimensional atomical...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature materials 2022-12, Vol.21 (12), p.1373-1378
Main Authors: Zhang, Peiyao, Chung, Ting-Fung, Li, Quanwei, Wang, Siqi, Wang, Qingjun, Huey, Warren L. B., Yang, Sui, Goldberger, Joshua E., Yao, Jie, Zhang, Xiang
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
140/125
639/301/119/997
639/624/400/1101
Angular momentum
Biomaterials
Chemistry and Materials Science
Circular polarization
Condensed Matter Physics
Data storage
Electric fields
Electronic devices
Ferromagnetism
High speed
Magnetic moments
Magnetic properties
Magnetism
Magnetization
Magnets
Materials Science
Momentum transfer
Nanotechnology
Optical and Electronic Materials
Optical switching
Polarized light
Power management
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Summary:Control of magnetism has attracted interest in achieving low-power and high-speed applications such as magnetic data storage and spintronic devices. Two-dimensional magnets allow for control of magnetic properties using the electric field, electrostatic doping and strain. In two-dimensional atomically thin magnets, a non-volatile all-optical method would offer the distinct advantage of switching magnetic states without application of an external field. Here, we demonstrate such all-optical magnetization switching in the atomically thin ferromagnetic semiconductor, CrI 3 , triggered by circularly polarized light pulses. The magnetization switching behaviour strongly depends on the exciting photon energy and polarization, in correspondence with excitonic transitions in CrI 3 , indicating that the switching process is related to spin angular momentum transfer from photoexcited carriers to local magnetic moments. Such an all-optical magnetization switching should allow for further exploration of magneto-optical interactions and open up applications in high-speed and low-power spintronic devices. The authors use circularly polarized light pulses to trigger all-optical magnetization switching in an atomically thin ferromagnetic semiconductor. The switching process is related to spin angular momentum transfer from photoexcited carriers to local magnetic moments.
ISSN:1476-1122
1476-4660
DOI:10.1038/s41563-022-01354-7