Spintronics with Topological Quantum Material and Magnetic Heterostructures

Research Project, 2022 – 2025

The interplay of spin, charge, and orbital degrees of freedom in solids can provide a plethora of exotic physical phenomena in condensed matter physics. Recently, such fundamental interactions have given birth to two-dimensional (2D) materials with nontrivial topological electronic states and their magnetic phases.
In this project, we will create van der Waals heterostructures of such new 2D materials, which will be used as virtual laboratories to test the predictions of basic physics, engineer its hybrid interfaces and explore its application potential.The aim is first to investigate and understand the basic building blocks of magnetic and topological materials and then combine them in 2D hybrid devices to observe the spin-orbit and magnetic-exchange interactions. We will investigate the room-temperature 2D magnets with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy for high-density integration and their electric field tunable magnetic properties. To control these 2D magnets, we will utilize a new topological Weyl semimetal, where the spontaneous electric field-induced spin-polarized current is expected due to the presence of spin textures in its band structure. This spin current will be utilized to switch the magnetization of a 2D magnets with a very low current density for spin-based memory functionalities. Finally, we will utilize the graphene circuits as spin interconnects to integrate memory and logic functionalities in all 2D spin circuit architectures.