More Like this

1. Spin-valley locking and bulk quantum Hall effect in a noncentrosymmetric Dirac semimetal BaMnSb2

   https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-24369-1  

   Liu, J. Y.; Yu, J.; Ning, J. L.; Yi, H. M.; Miao, L.; Min, L. J.; Zhao, Y. F.; Ning, W.; Lopez, K. A.; Zhu, Y. L.; et al (December 2021, Nature Communications)

   null (Ed.)

   Abstract Spin-valley locking in monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides has attracted enormous interest, since it offers potential for valleytronic and optoelectronic applications. Such an exotic electronic state has sparsely been seen in bulk materials. Here, we report spin-valley locking in a Dirac semimetal BaMnSb 2 . This is revealed by comprehensive studies using first principles calculations, tight-binding and effective model analyses, angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy measurements. Moreover, this material also exhibits a stacked quantum Hall effect (QHE). The spin-valley degeneracy extracted from the QHE is close to 2. This result, together with the Landau level spin splitting, further confirms the spin-valley locking picture. In the extreme quantum limit, we also observed a plateau in the z -axis resistance, suggestive of a two-dimensional chiral surface state present in the quantum Hall state. These findings establish BaMnSb 2 as a rare platform for exploring coupled spin and valley physics in bulk single crystals and accessing 3D interacting topological states. 

   more » « less
2. Optical analog of valley Hall effect of 2D excitons in hyperbolic metamaterial

   https://doi.org/10.1364/OPTICA.404063  

   Guddala, Sriram; Khatoniar, Mandeep; Yama, Nicholas; Liu, Wenxiao; Agarwal, Girish_S; Menon, Vinod_M (January 2021, Optica)

   The robust spin and momentum valley locking of electrons in two-dimensional semiconductors makes the valley degree of freedom of great utility for functional optoelectronic devices. Owing to the difference in optical selection rules for the different valleys, these valley electrons can be addressed optically. The electrons and excitons in these materials exhibit the valley Hall effect, where the carriers from specific valleys are directed to different directions under electrical or thermal bias. Here we report the optical analog of valley Hall effect, where the light emission from the valley-polarized excitons in a monolayer ${\mathrm{W}\mathrm{S}}_2$propagates in different directions owing to the preferential coupling of excitonic emission to the high momentum states of the hyperbolic metamaterial. The experimentally observed effects are corroborated with theoretical modeling of excitonic emission in the near field of hyperbolic media. The demonstration of the optical valley Hall effect using a bulk artificial photonic media without the need for nanostructuring opens the possibility of realizing valley-based excitonic circuits operating at room temperature. 

   more » « less
3. Discovery of an Intrinsic Antiferromagnetic Semiconductor EuSc ₂ Te ₄ With Magnetism‐Driven Nonlinear Transport

   https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.202424231  

   Lee, Seng_Huat; Zhao, Yufei; Gluscevich, Noble; Yi, Hemian; Morgan, Zachary; Cao, Huibo; Koo, Jahyun; Wang, Yu; He, Jingyang; Gopalan, Venkatraman; et al (March 2025, Advanced Functional Materials)

   Abstract Magnetic topological materials have recently emerged as a promising platform for studying quantum geometry by the nonlinear transport in thin film devices. In this work, an antiferromagnetic (AFM) semiconductor EuSc₂Te₄ as the first bulk crystal that exhibits quantum geometry‐driven nonlinear transport is reported. This material crystallizes into an orthorhombic lattice with AFM order below 5.2 K and a bandgap of less than 50 meV. The calculated band structure aligns with the angle‐resolved photoemission spectroscopy spectrum. The AFM order preserves combined space‐time inversion symmetry but breaks both spatial inversion and time‐reversal symmetry, leading to the nonlinear Hall effect (NLHE). Nonlinear Hall voltage measured in bulk crystals appears at zero field, peaks near the spin‐flop transition as the field increases, and then diminishes as the spin moments align into a ferromagnetic order. This field dependence, along with the scaling analysis of the nonlinear Hall conductivity, suggests that the NLHE of EuSc₂Te₄ involves contributions from quantum metric, in addition to extrinsic contributions, such as spin scattering and junction effects. Furthermore, this NLHE is found to have the functionality of broadband frequency mixing, indicating its potential applications in electronics. This work reveals a new avenue for studying magnetism‐induced nonlinear transport in magnetic materials. 

   more » « less
4. Spin-generation in magnetic Weyl semimetal Co2MnGa across varying degree of chemical order

   https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0102039  

   Safi, Taqiyyah_S; Chou, Chung-Tao; Hou, Justin_T; Han, Jiahao; Liu, Luqiao (September 2022, Applied Physics Letters)

   Recently discovered magnetic Weyl semimetals (MWSM), with enhanced Berry curvature stemming from the topology of their electronic band structure, have gained much interest for spintronics applications. In this category, Co2MnGa, a room temperature ferromagnetic Heusler alloy, has garnered special interest as a promising material for topologically driven spintronic applications. However, until now, the structural-order dependence of spin current generation efficiency through the spin Hall effect has not been fully explored in this material. In this paper, we study the evolution of magnetic and transport properties of Co2MnGa thin films from the chemically disordered B2 to ordered L21 phase. We also report on the change in spin generation efficiency across these different phases, using heterostructures of Co2MnGa and ferrimagnet CoxTb1−x with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy. We measured large spin Hall angles in both the B2 and L21 phases, and within our experimental limits, we did not observe the advantage brought by the MWSM ordering in generating a strong spin Hall angle over the disordered phases, which suggests more complicated mechanisms over the intrinsic, Weyl-band structure-determined spin Hall effect in these material stacks. 

   more » « less
5. Anisotropic spin-orbit torque generation in epitaxial SrIrO ₃ by symmetry design

   https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1812822116  

   Nan, T.; Anderson, T. J.; Gibbons, J.; Hwang, K.; Campbell, N.; Zhou, H.; Dong, Y. Q.; Kim, G. Y.; Shao, D. F.; Paudel, T. R.; et al (August 2019, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences)

   Spin-orbit coupling (SOC), the interaction between the electron spin and the orbital angular momentum, can unlock rich phenomena at interfaces, in particular interconverting spin and charge currents. Conventional heavy metals have been extensively explored due to their strong SOC of conduction electrons. However, spin-orbit effects in classes of materials such as epitaxial 5 d -electron transition-metal complex oxides, which also host strong SOC, remain largely unreported. In addition to strong SOC, these complex oxides can also provide the additional tuning knob of epitaxy to control the electronic structure and the engineering of spin-to-charge conversion by crystalline symmetry. Here, we demonstrate room-temperature generation of spin-orbit torque on a ferromagnet with extremely high efficiency via the spin-Hall effect in epitaxial metastable perovskite SrIrO 3 . We first predict a large intrinsic spin-Hall conductivity in orthorhombic bulk SrIrO 3 arising from the Berry curvature in the electronic band structure. By manipulating the intricate interplay between SOC and crystalline symmetry, we control the spin-Hall torque ratio by engineering the tilt of the corner-sharing oxygen octahedra in perovskite SrIrO 3 through epitaxial strain. This allows the presence of an anisotropic spin-Hall effect due to a characteristic structural anisotropy in SrIrO 3 with orthorhombic symmetry. Our experimental findings demonstrate the heteroepitaxial symmetry design approach to engineer spin-orbit effects. We therefore anticipate that these epitaxial 5 d transition-metal oxide thin films can be an ideal building block for low-power spintronics. 

   more » « less