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Published on: March 24, 2019
Interfacial chirality-induced magnetic-field-free switching with high energy efficiency in all-vdW heterostructures
Kai-Xuan Zhang1,2,3,4, Suik Cheon5, Seungbok Lee6,7
1Department of Physics and Astronomy, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea. kxzhang.research@gmail.com.
Abstract:
Chirality, a central concept across many scientific disciplines, continues to inspire the discovery of novel physical phenomena. In condensed matter physics, structural chirality-defined by the absence of mirror plane symmetries-has primarily been explored in bulk materials. However, new chiral phenomena can emerge uniquely at the interface, distinct from their bulk counterparts, when a chiral material forms a heterostructure. Here, we demonstrate that all van-der-Waals (vdW) heterostructure composed of the chiral Co1/3TaS2 and the achiral vdW ferromagnet Fe3GeTe2 exhibits two distinct and unconventional spin-orbit torques originating from the interfacial chirality. These torques enable magnetic-field-free switching of perpendicular magnetization with ultralow current density and minimal power dissipation . Moreover, by replacing Fe3GeTe2 with a similar vdW ferromagnet, Fe3GaTe2, but of higher Curie temperature, we achieved the magnetic-field-free switching at room temperature in the Fe3GaTe2/Co1/3TaS2 vdW heterostructure. Our findings establish interfacial chirality as a powerful new handle for spintronic control, opening a new pathway to explore chirality-induced phenomena beyond the bulk symmetry constraints - and paving the way toward highly efficient, low-power spintronic devices based on all-vdW heterostructures.
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