Spin photogalvanic effect in two-dimensional collinear antiferromagnets

Abstract

Recent discovered two-dimensional (2D) antiferromagnetic (AFM) van der Waals quantum materials have attracted increasing interest due to the emergent exotic physical phenomena. The spintronic properties utilizing the intrinsic AFM state in 2D antiferromagnets, however, have been rarely found. Here we show that the spin photogalvanic effect (SPGE), which has been predicted in three-dimensional (3D) antiferromagnets, can intrinsically emerge in 2D antiferromagnets for promising spintronic applications. Based on the symmetry analysis of possible AFM orders in the honeycomb lattice, we conclude suitable 2D AFM candidate materials for realizing the SPGE. We choose two experimentally synthesized 2D collinear AFM materials, monolayer MnPS3, and bilayer CrCl3, as representative materials to perform first-principles calculations, and find that they support sizable SPGE. The SPGE in collinear 2D AFM materials can be utilized to generate pure spin current in a contactless and ultra-fast way.

Carbon phosphide nanoribbons with spatial inversion symmetry: robust generators of pure spin current with a photogalvanic effect

“…13,14,24 Specifically, PGE, as first proposed in traditional semiconductors, [25][26][27] is characterized by the fact that photocurrent can be generated in materials lacking spatial inversion symmetry under light irradiation without applying a bias. In recent years, with the promising application of 2D materials in the photoelectric device, [28][29][30][31] the photocurrent generation of PGE has been achieved in 2D systems which are designed to lose the spatial inversion symmetry, such as graphene PN junctions, 32 Sdoping monolayer black phosphorus with C s symmetry. 33 Moreover, photocurrent has been predicted in systems where asymmetry in the real space electronic structure is induced by a small bias, such as transition metal dichalcogenide WSe 2 , 34 h-BN/graphene/h-BN van der Waals heterostructure, 35 AsSb, 36 and antimonene, 37 etc.…”

Metal Site Substitution and Role of the Dimer on Symmetry Breaking in FePS3 and CrPS4 under Pressure

“…Transition metal trichalcogenides in the M P X 3 family of materials ( M = Fe, Mn, Ni, V; X = S, Se) provide abundant opportunities to explore the competition between different states of matter under external stimuli. This is exciting because many of these phases have novel properties that are highly sought-after and cannot be realized via thermal pathways. − Pressure, for instance, provides the means to modify typical structural features such as lattice parameters, bond lengths and angles, and the interlayer van der Waals gap, − all of which are strongly coupled to electronic and magnetic properties in the M PS 3 series. Examples of the different areas of phase space and transitions under compression include, but are not limited to, insulator-to-metal transitions, unique symmetry evolutions, piezochromism, orbitally selective Mott states, polar metals, and superconductivity. − Pressure- and strain-induced structural, electronic, and magnetic transitions, if achieved in a reversible manner, may give rise to revolutionary advances in low-power, high-speed electronic devices. − Specifically, nonlinear responses under external stimuli, which arise due to strong electron correlations within transition metal ions, can stabilize multiple coexisting phases that can be harnessed for applications. − Pressure-induced phase transitions and the structure–property relations that can be unraveled in these systems are therefore of great contemporary interest.…”

Perfect optical spin-filtering in antiferromagnetic stanene nanoribbons induced by band bending and uniaxial strain

“…Recently, spin-functionalized optoelectronics properties of nanostructures have attracted significant interest in the scientific community [1][2][3]. In this field, interaction among the light and electrons by considering their spin degree of freedom in the absence of an external bias is studied.…”