Interfacial magnetic spin Hall effect in van der Waals Fe₃GeTe₂/MoTe₂ heterostructure

Area of Science:

• Condensed Matter Physics
• Materials Science
• Nanotechnology

Background:

• The spin Hall effect (SHE) is vital for spintronics, converting charge current to spin current.
• Time-reversal-even SHE is common in non-magnetic materials.
• Time-reversal-odd (T-odd) SHE, coupled with magnetization, offers novel charge-spin conversion.

Purpose of the Study:

• To report the observation of a giant T-odd SHE in a van der Waals heterostructure.
• To identify and characterize a new interfacial magnetic spin Hall effect (interfacial-MSHE).
• To explore the potential applications of this effect in computing.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of Fe3GeTe2/MoTe2 van der Waals heterostructures.
• Experimental observation of the T-odd SHE.
• Symmetry analysis and theoretical calculations.
• Device fabrication for demonstrating computing operations.

Main Results:

• Observation of a giant T-odd SHE in Fe3GeTe2/MoTe2, termed interfacial-MSHE.
• Attribution of the effect to a symmetry-breaking induced spin current dipole at the interface.
• Demonstration of the effect's utility in implementing multiply-accumulate operations and convolutional neural networks.

Conclusions:

• Uncovered a novel interfacial T-odd charge-spin conversion mechanism.
• The interfacial-MSHE offers new functionalities for spintronics.
• Potential for developing energy-efficient in-memory computing devices.