Electrically Active Domain Wall Magnons in Layered van der Waals Antiferromagnets.

We study, theoretically, domain wall (DW) magnons-elementary collective excitations of magnetic DWs-in easy-axis layered van der Waals (vdW) antiferromagnets, where they behave as normal modes of coupled spin superfluids. We uncover that, due to spin-charge coupling in vdW magnets, such DW magnons can be activated by voltage-induced torques, thereby providing a path for their low-dissipation and nanoscale excitation. Moreover, the electrical activation and the number of DW magnons at a frequency can be controlled by applying symmetry-breaking static magnetic field, adding tunability of signal transmission by them. Our results highlight that domain walls in vdW magnets provide a promising platform to route coherent spin information for a broad range of explorations in spintronics and magnetism.

Emergence of electric-field-tunable interfacial ferromagnetism in 2D antiferromagnet heterostructures.

Van der Waals (vdW) magnet heterostructures have emerged as new platforms to explore exotic magnetic orders and quantum phenomena. Here, we study heterostructures of layered antiferromagnets, CrI3 and CrCl3, with perpendicular and in-plane magnetic anisotropy, respectively. Using magneto-optical Kerr effect microscopy, we demonstrate out-of-plane magnetic order in the CrCl3 layer proximal to CrI3, with ferromagnetic interfacial coupling between the two. Such an interlayer exchange field leads to higher critical temperature than that of either CrI3 or CrCl3 alone. We further demonstrate significant electric-field control of the coercivity, attributed to the naturally broken structural inversion symmetry of the heterostructure allowing unprecedented direct coupling between electric field and interfacial magnetism. These findings illustrate the opportunity to explore exotic magnetic phases and engineer spintronic devices in vdW heterostructures.

Valley and Zeeman Splittings in Multilayer Epitaxial Graphene Revealed by Circular Polarization Resolved Magneto-infrared Spectroscopy.

Circular-polarization-resolved magneto-infrared studies of multilayer epitaxial graphene (MEG) are performed using tunable quantum cascade lasers in high magnetic fields up to 17.5 T. Landau level (LL) transitions in the monolayer and bilayer graphene inclusions of MEG are resolved, and considerable electron-hole asymmetry is observed in the extracted electronic band structure. For monolayer graphene, a four-fold splitting of the n = 0 to n = 1 LL transition is evidenced and attributed to the lifting of the valley and spin degeneracy of the zeroth LL and the broken electron-hole symmetry. The magnetic field dependence of the splitting further reveals its possible mechanisms. The best fit to experimental data yields effective g-factors, gVS* = 6.7 and gZS* = 4.8, for the valley and Zeeman splittings, respectively.

Dense Electron-Hole Plasma Formation and Ultralong Charge Lifetime in Monolayer MoS2 via Material Tuning.

Many-body interactions in photoexcited semiconductors can bring about strongly interacting electronic states, culminating in the fully ionized matter of electron-hole plasma (EHP) and electron-hole liquid (EHL). These exotic phases exhibit unique electronic properties, such as metallic conductivity and metastable high photoexcitation density, which can be the basis for future transformative applications. However, the cryogenic condition required for its formation has limited the study of dense plasma phases to a purely academic pursuit in a restricted parameter space. This paradigm can potentially change with the recent experimental observation of these phases in atomically thin MoS2 and MoTe2 at room temperature. A fundamental understanding of EHP and EHL dynamics is critical for developing novel applications on this versatile layered platform. In this work, we studied the formation and dissipation of EHP in monolayer MoS2. Unlike previous results in bulk semiconductors, our results reveal that electromechanical material changes in monolayer MoS2 during photoexcitation play a significant role in dense EHP formation. Within the free-standing geometry, photoexcitation is accompanied by an unconstrained thermal expansion, resulting in a direct-to-indirect gap electronic transition at a critical lattice spacing and fluence. This dramatic altering of the material's energetic landscape extends carrier lifetimes by 2 orders of magnitude and allows the density required for EHP formation. The result is a stable dense plasma state that is sustained with modest optical photoexcitation. Our findings pave the way for novel applications based on dense plasma states in two-dimensional semiconductors.

Theoretical Phase Diagram for the Room-Temperature Electron-Hole Liquid in Photoexcited Quasi-Two-Dimensional Monolayer MoS2.

Strong correlations between electrons and holes can drive the existence of an electron-hole liquid (EHL) state, typically at high carrier densities and low temperatures. The recent emergence of quasi-two-dimensional (2D) monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) provides ideal systems to explore the EHL state since ineffective screening of the out-of-plane field lines in these quasi-2D systems allows for stronger charge carrier correlations in contrast to conventional 3D bulk semiconductors and enables the existence of the EHL at high temperatures. Here we construct the phase diagram for the photoinduced first-order phase transition from a plasma of electron-hole pairs to a correlated EHL state in suspended monolayer MoS2. We show that the quasi-2D nature of monolayer TMDCs and the ineffective screening of the out-of-plane field lines allow for this phase transition to occur at and above room temperature, thereby opening avenues for studying many-body phenomena without the constraint of cryogenics.

Detecting the Photoexcited Carrier Distribution Across GaAs/Transition Metal Oxide Interfaces by Coherent Longitudinal Acoustic Phonons.

A prominent architecture for solar energy conversion layers diverse materials, such as traditional semiconductors (Si, III-V) and transition metal oxides (TMOs), into a monolithic device. The efficiency with which photoexcited carriers cross each layer is critical to device performance and dependent on the electronic properties of a heterojunction. Here, by time-resolved changes in the reflectivity after excitation of an n-GaAs/p-GaAs/TMO (Co3O4, IrO2) device, we detect a photoexcited carrier distribution specific to the p-GaAs/TMO interface through its coupling to phonons in both materials. The photoexcited carriers generate two coherent longitudinal acoustic phonons (CLAPs) traveling in opposite directions, one into the TMO and the other into the p-GaAs. This is the first time a CLAP is reported to originate at a semiconductor/TMO heterojunction. Therefore, these experiments seed future modeling of the built-in electric fields, the internal Fermi level, and the photoexcited carrier density of semiconductor/TMO interfaces within multilayered heterostructures.