Strongly anisotropic spin relaxation in graphene-transition metal dichalcogenide heterostructures at room temperature
Benítez, L. Antonio (Institut Català de Nanociència i Nanotecnologia)
Sierra, Juan F. (Institut Català de Nanociència i Nanotecnologia)
Savero Torres, Williams Fernando (Institut Català de Nanociència i Nanotecnologia)
Arrighi, Aloïs (Institut Català de Nanociència i Nanotecnologia)
Bonell, Frédéric (Institut Català de Nanociència i Nanotecnologia)
Costache, Marius Vasile. (Institut Català de Nanociència i Nanotecnologia)
Valenzuela, Sergio O. (Institut Català de Nanociència i Nanotecnologia)

Date:	2018
Abstract:	A large enhancement in the spin-orbit coupling of graphene has been predicted when interfacing it with semiconducting transition metal dichalcogenides. Signatures of such an enhancement have been reported, but the nature of the spin relaxation in these systems remains unknown. Here, we unambiguously demonstrate anisotropic spin dynamics in bilayer heterostructures comprising graphene and tungsten or molybdenum disulphide (WS , MoS ). We observe that the spin lifetime varies over one order of magnitude depending on the spin orientation, being largest when the spins point out of the graphene plane. This indicates that the strong spin-valley coupling in the transition metal dichalcogenide is imprinted in the bilayer and felt by the propagating spins. These findings provide a rich platform to explore coupled spin-valley phenomena and offer novel spin manipulation strategies based on spin relaxation anisotropy in two-dimensional materials.
Grants:	European Commission 306652 European Commission 696656 Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad MAT2016-75952-R Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad SEV-2013-0295 Agència de Gestió d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca 2014/SGR-56
Rights:	Tots els drets reservats.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió acceptada per publicar
Subject:	Molybdenum disulphide ; Semiconducting transition ; Spin manipulation ; Spin orientations ; Spin relaxation ; Spin-orbit couplings ; Transition metal dichalcogenides ; Two-dimensional materials
Published in:	Nature Physics, Vol. 14, Issue 3 (March 2018) , p. 303-308, ISSN 1745-2481

DOI: 10.1038/s41567-017-0019-2

Postprint 18 p, 1.4 MB

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Research literature > UAB research groups literature > Research Centres and Groups (research output) > Experimental sciences > Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICN2)
Articles > Research articles
Articles > Published articles