The discovery of new properties in two-dimensional materials has spurred significant interest, particularly in how stacking these materials into heterostructures can create new effects. Recently, it has been observed that even slight rotations of these material layers can drastically alter their properties.
"In this work we studied the stacking of two layers of graphene and tungsten selenide (WSe2)," explained Ikerbasque Research Professor Felix Casanova, co-leader of the Nanodevices group at nanoGUNE and leader of the study. "If the two layers are placed one on top of the other and rotated at a precise angle, a spin current is generated in a desired specific direction," Casanova added.
Typically, spin (a property of electrons and other particles) is transferred perpendicular to the electric current. One of the main challenges in spintronics, a technology that uses spin to manage and transfer information, is controlling these spin currents. However, as Felix Casanova highlighted, "this work shows that this limitation in fact disappears when suitable materials are used."
He further concluded, "by simply stacking two layers and applying a 'magic' twist, new spin-related properties that do not exist in the initial materials can be obtained. The more flexibility we have in the choice of materials, the greater the design possibilities are for next-generation devices."
Research Report:Twist-angle-tunable spin texture in WSe2/graphene van der Waals heterostructures
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