Spin-Dependent Tunneling Barriers in CoPc/VSe₂ from Many-Body Interactions

Area of Science:

• Condensed Matter Physics
• Materials Science
• Quantum Chemistry

Background:

• Mixed-dimensional heterostructures offer novel platforms for quantum phenomena.
• Magnetic van der Waals materials like VSe2 are key components in spintronics.
• Cobalt phthalocyanine (CoPc) is a molecule with potential applications in molecular electronics.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the electronic structure and interface properties of cobalt phthalocyanine (CoPc) on magnetic VSe2 monolayers.
• To understand the origin of spectral features and spin-dependent transport phenomena at the interface.
• To explore the role of many-body interactions in these novel heterostructures.

Main Methods:

• Utilizing state-of-the-art many-body perturbation theory (MBPT).
• Calculating the projected density of states (PDOS) for CoPc on VSe2.
• Comparing theoretical predictions with experimental scanning tunneling spectroscopy (STS) data.

Main Results:

• The predicted PDOS of CoPc aligns well with experimental STS, including a shoulder feature absent in mean-field calculations.
• Interface tunneling barriers are predicted to be spin-dependent, unlike gas-phase molecular orbitals.
• The observed spectral shoulder and spin-dependent barriers are attributed to many-body interactions in hybridized states.

Conclusions:

• Many-body interactions are crucial for understanding the electronic properties of CoPc/VSe2 heterostructures.
• The findings highlight the potential for manipulating spin-dependent tunneling barriers for quantum information and spintronics.
• This work demonstrates the intricate physics governing mixed-dimensional magnetic heterostructures.