Motivated by the recent experiment demonstration of stacking dependent interlayer magnetic interaction [T. Song et al., Nat. Mater. 18, 1298 (2019); T. Li et al., Nat. Mater. 18, 1303 (2019); W. Chen et al., Science 366, 983 (2019)], we investigate the magnetization textures and the control possibilities in the moiré pattern formed of twisted bilayer two-dimensional (2D) magnets CrX$_3$ (X=Br, I). We find that the stacking dependent interlayer magnetic interaction results in the formation of periodic magnetization domains in a long-period moiré pattern. Magnetization textures with various topological numbers can be constructed, depending on the winding of the textures around the domain walls. A uniform external magnetic field competes with the lateral modulated interlayer magnetic interaction and can be utilized to tune the magnetization textures.
We report experimental investigations of transport through bilayer graphene (BLG)/chromium trihalide (CrX$_3$; X=Cl, Br, I) van der Waals interfaces. In all cases, a large charge transfer from BLG to CrX$_3$ takes place (reaching densities in excess of $10^{13}$ cm$^{-2}$), and generates an electric field perpendicular to the interface that opens a band gap in BLG. We determine the gap from the activation energy of the conductivity and find excellent agreement with the latest theory accounting for the contribution of the $σ$ bands to the BLG dielectric susceptibility. We further show that for …
The transport properties of a twisted bilayer graphene barrier are investigated for various twist angles. Remarkably, for small twist angles around the magic angle $θ_m \sim 1.05^{\circ}$, the local currents around the AA-stacked regions are strongly enhanced compared to the injected electron rate. Furthermore, the total and counterflow (magnetic) current patterns show high correlations in these regions, given rise to well-defined magnetic moments that form a magnetic Moiré superlattice. The orientation and magnitude of these magnetic moments changes as function of the gate voltage and possibl…
The interlayer van der Waals interaction in twisted bilayer graphene (tBLG) induces both in-plane and out-of-plane atomic displacements showing complex patterns that depend on the twist angle. In particular, for small twist angles, within each graphene layer, the relaxations give rise to a vortex-like displacement pattern which is known to affect the dispersion of the flat bands. Here, we focus on yet another structural property, the chirality of the twisted bilayer. We perform first-principles calculations based on density functional theory to investigate the properties induced by twist chira…
Topological phases, van Hove singularities, and spin texture in magic-angle twisted bilayer graphene in the presence of proximity-induced spin-orbit couplings
Locally resolved electronic textures of reconstruction domains in marginally twisted monolayer-bilayer graphene
University of Ottawa（渥太华大学）；University of Manchester（曼彻斯特大学）；National Graphene Institute, University of Manchester（曼彻斯特大学国家石墨烯研究所）；National Institute for Materials Science（国立材料研究所）
We build a microscopic model to study the intra- and inter-layer superexchange due to electrons hopping in chromium trihalides ($\mathrm{CrX}_3$, X= Cl, Br, and I). In evaluating the superexchange, we identify the relevant intermediate excitations in the hopping. In our study, we find that the intermediate hole-pairs excitations in the $p$-orbitals on X ion play a crucial role in mediating various types of exchange interactions. In particular, the inter-layer antiferromagnetic exchange may be realized by the hole-pair-mediated superexchange. Interestingly, we also find that these virtual hoppi…
University of Michigan（密歇根大学）；ITMO University（ITMO大学）；The University of Texas at Dallas（德克萨斯大学达拉斯分校）；Georgia Institute of Technology（佐治亚理工学院）；University of Iceland（冰岛大学）
Twisted graphene multilayers provide tunable platforms to engineer flat bands and exploit the associated strongly correlated physics. The two-dimensional nature of these systems makes them suitable for encapsulation by materials that break specific symmetries. In this context, recently discovered two-dimensional helimagnets, such as the multiferroic monolayer NiI$_2$, are specially appealing for breaking time-reversal and inversion symmetries due to their nontrivial spin textures. Here we show that this spin texture can be imprinted on the electronic structure of twisted bilayer graphene by pr…
Motivated by manipulating the magnetic order of bilayer CrI$_3$, we carry out microscopic calculations to find the magnetic order and various magnetic domains of the system in the presence of an electric field. Making use of density functional simulations, a spin model Hamiltonian is introduced consisting of isotropic exchange couplings, Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya (DM) interaction, and on-site magnetic anisotropy. The spin dynamics of two well-known states of bilayer CrI$_3$, low temperature (LT) and high temperature (HT) phases, are obtained by solving the Landau-Lifshitz-Gilbert equation. We show…
Interaction-driven charge textures and unconventional superconductivity in strained monolayer graphene
Posgrado en Ciencias Físicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM)（墨西哥国立自治大学物理科学研究生院）；Department of Physics, University of Arkansas（阿肯色大学物理系）；Donostia International Physics Center（圣塞巴斯蒂安国际物理中心）；IMDEA Nanoscience（马德里IMDEA纳米科学研究所）；Center for Theoretical Physics, Hainan University（海南大学理论物理中心）；Department of Physics, Colorado State University（科罗拉多州立大学物理系）；Depto. de Sistemas Complejos, Instituto de Física, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM)（墨西哥国立自治大学物理学院复杂系统系）
Magnetometry measurements of Fe/U and Ni/U bilayer systems reveal a non-monotonic dependence of the magnetic anisotropy for U thicknesses in the range 0 nm - 8 nm, with the Fe/U bilayers showing a more prominent effect as compared to Ni/U. The stronger response for Fe/U is ascribed to the stronger 3d-5f hybridization of Fe and U. This non-monotonic behaviour is thought to arise from quantum well states in the uranium overlayers. Estimating an oscillation period from the non-monotonic data, and comparing it to Density Functional Theory calculations, we find that wavevector matches to the experi…
Twisting in bilayers introduces structural chirality with two enantiomers, i.e., left- and right-hand bilayers, depending on the oriented twist angle. The interplay between this global chirality and additional degrees of freedom, such as magnetic ordering and the local octahedral chirality arising from the geometry of the bonds, can yield striking phenomena. In this work, we focus on collinear antiferromagnetic CrI$_3$ twisted homo-bilayers, which are characterized by a staggered octahedral chirality in each monolayer. Using symmetry analysis, density functional theory and tight-binding model …
Experimental signature of layer skyrmions and implications for band topology in twisted WSe2 bilayers
University of Texas at Austin（德克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校）；The University of Hong Kong（香港大学）；National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University（阳明交通大学）；Pennsylvania State University（宾夕法尼亚州立大学）；National Institute for Materials Science（日本物质材料研究机构）
Skyrmionic Transport and First Order Phase Transitions in Twisted Bilayer Graphene Quantum Hall Ferromagnet
Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur（印度理工学院哈格普尔分校）；S. N. Bose National Centre for Basic Sciences（S.N.玻色基础科学国家中心）；National Institute for Materials Science（日本国立材料研究所）
Structurally similar transition metal systems can have widely differing magnetic properties. A prime example of this is found for bilayers on Ir(111), where Pd/Fe/Ir(111) ground state has a well-established noncollinear spin texture, while Pd/Co/Ir(111) present a ferromagnetic (FM) single-domain. To unravel the origins of these different magnetic behaviors, an investigation of Pd/Fe and Pd/Co bilayers on Ir(111), is here performed. Based on the obtained \textit{ab-initio} electronic structure, exchange coupling parameters ($J_{ij}$) and Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interactions (DMI), we demonstrate …
Programmable Magnetic Hysteresis in Orthogonally-Twisted Two-Dimensional CrSBr Magnets via Stacking Engineering
Instituto de Ciencia Molecular (ICMol), Universitat de València（瓦伦西亚大学分子科学研究所）；Departamento de Física, Universidad de Oviedo（奥维耶多大学物理系）；Centro de Investigación en Nanomateriales y Nanotecnología, Universidad de Oviedo-CSIC（奥维耶多大学-西班牙国家研究委员会纳米材料与纳米技术研究中心）；Department of Quantum Nanoscience, Kavli Institute of Nanoscience, Delft University of Technology（代尔夫特理工大学卡弗里纳米科学研究所量子纳米科学系）
With the ever-increasing energy need to process big data, the realization of low-power computing technologies, such as superconducting logic and memories, has become a pressing issue. Developing fast and non-volatile superconducting memory elements, however, remains a challenge. Superconductor-ferromagnet hybrid devices offer a promising solution, as they combine ultra-fast manipulation of spins with dissipationless readout. Here, we present a new type of non-volatile Josephson junction memory that utilizes the bistable magnetic texture of a single mesoscopic ferromagnet. We use micromagnetic …
Moiré superlattices in two-dimensional (2D) van der Waals (vdW) heterostructures provide 20 an efficient way to engineer electron band properties. The recent discovery of exotic quantum phases and their interplay in twisted bilayer graphene (tBLG) has built this moiré system one of the most renowned condensed matter platforms (1-10). So far the studies of tBLG has been mostly focused on the lowest two flat moiré bands at the first magic angle θm1 ~ 1.1°, leaving high-order moiré bands and magic angles largely unexplored. Here we report 25 an observation of multiple well-isolated flat moiré ban…
Emergence of moiré magnetic chaos in twisted bilayer CrI3
Korea Institute of Science and Technology（韩国科学技术院）；Asia Pacific Center for Theoretical Physics（亚太理论物理中心）；Pohang University of Science and Technology（浦项科技大学）
The advent of Moiré materials has galvanized interest in the nature of charge carriers in topological bands. In contrast to conventional materials where charge carriers are electron-like quasiparticles, topological bands allow for more exotic possibilities where charge is carried by nontrivial topological textures, such as skyrmions. However, the real space description of skyrmions is ill-suited to address the limit of small or `baby' skyrmions which consist of an electron and a few spin flips. Here, we study the formation of the smallest skyrmions -- spin polarons, formed as bound states of a…
A broken interfacial inversion symmetry in ultrathin ferromagnet/heavy metal (FM/HM) bilayers is generally believed to be a prerequisite for accommodating the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI) and for stabilizing chiral spin textures. In these bilayers, the strength of the DMI decays as the thickness of the FM layer increases and vanishes around a few nanometers. In the present study, through synthesizing relatively thick films of compositions CoPt or FePt, CoCu or FeCu, FeGd and FeNi, contributions to DMI from the composition gradient induced bulk magnetic asymmetry (BMA) and spin-orbit…
