Novel nanomaterials for spintronics: an ab initio approach
Final Report Abstract
In the project “Novel nanomaterials for spintronics: an ab initio approach” I have used firstprinciples techniques to investigate the structural, electronic, magnetic and topological properties of nanoscale (1D and 2D) materials, and their heterostructures. In particular, the interface between materials can be considered as the ultimate spintronics device, not only in terms of miniaturization but also to unlock unique design possibilities and new physical properties which are unattainable in the individual bulk materials. As device dimensions are constantly shrinking, understanding the physical properties emerging at interfaces is crucial to exploit them for applications. Graphene and magnetoelectric multiferroics are promising materials for spintronic devices with high performance and low energy consumption. I combine the features of both materials by investigating from first principles and Monte Carlo simulations the interface between graphene and BaMnO3, a magneto-electric multiferroic. I show that electron charge is transferred across the interface, magnetization is induced in the graphene sheet due to the strong interaction between C and Mn. A remarkably large proximity induced spin splitting of the Dirac cones (∼300 meV) is achieved and doping can make the highmobility region of the electronic bands experimentally accessible. Spin-Orbit Coupling calculations reveal that graphene deeply affects the magnetic state of the substrate, down to several layers below the interface, by inducing an overall magnetic softening, and switching the in-plane magnetic ordering from anti- to ferromagnetic. The graphene-BaMnO3 system presents a SOC gap 300 times larger than in pristine graphene, leading to a new flavor of Quantum Anomalous Hall effect (QAHE), a hybrid QAHE, characterized by the coexistence of metallic and topological insulating states. These findings could be exploited to fabricate novel devices that use graphene to control the magnetic configuration of a substrate.
Publications
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Graphene-multiferroic interfaces for spintronics applications, Scientific Reports, 6, 31346 (2016)
Z. Zanolli
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Quasi-One-Dimensional Metal-Insulator Transitions in Compound Semiconductor Surfaces, Phys. Rev. Lett. 117, 116101 (2016)
J. Zhao, W. Fan, M. J. Verstraete, Z. Zanolli, J. Fan, X. B. Yang, H. Xu, S. Y. Tong
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Phys. Rev. Lett. 118, 239602 (2017)
J. Z. Zhao, W. Fan, M. J. Verstraete, Z. Zanolli, J. Fan, X. B. Yang, H. Xu, and S. Y. Tong
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Quantitative agreement between electron-optical phase images of WSe2 and simulations based on electrostatic potentials that include bonding effects, Phys. Rev. Lett 118, 086101 (2017)
S. Borghardt, F. Winkler, Z. Zanolli, M. J. Verstraete, J. Barthel, A. H. Tavabi, R. E. Dunin-Borkowski, B. Kardynal
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Hybrid quantum anomalous Hall effect at graphene-oxide interfaces, Phys. Rev. B 98, 155404 (2018)
Z. Zanolli, C. Niu, G. Bihlmayer, Y. Mokrousov, P. Mavropoulos, M. J. Verstraete, and S. Blügel
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Low energy phases of bilayer Bi predicted by structure search in two dimensions, J. Phys. Chem. Lett., 10, 23, 7324-7332 (2019)
S. Singh, Z. Zanolli, M. Amsler, B. Belhadji, J. O. Sofo, M. J. Verstraete, A. H. Romero
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Spectroscopic properties of few-layer tin chalcogenides, J. Phys. Mater. 2 044005 (2019)
A. Dewandre, M. J. Verstraete, N. Grobert, Z. Zanolli
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Spin States Protected from Intrinsic Electron-Phonon-Coupling Reaching 100 ns Lifetime at Room Temperature in MoSe2 , NanoLetters 19, 4083-4090 (2019)
M. Ersfeld, F. Volmer, P. M. M. C. de Melo, R. de Winter, M. Heithoff, Z. Zanolli, Ch. Stampfer, M. J. Verstraete, B. Beschoten
