Electric control of optically-induced magnetization dynamics in a van der Waals ferromagnetic semiconductor.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 38346955.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-024-45623-2 and PMC identifier 10861592.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Electric control of magnetization dynamics in two-dimensional (2D) magnetic materials is an essential step for the development of novel spintronic nanodevices. Electrostatic gating has been shown to greatly affect the static magnetic properties of some van der Waals magnets, but the control over their magnetization dynamics is still largely unexplored. Here we show that the optically-induced magnetization dynamics in the van der Waals ferromagnet Cr<sub>2</sub>Ge<sub>2</sub>Te<sub>6</sub> can be effectively controlled by electrostatic gates, with a one order of magnitude change in the precession amplitude and over 10% change in the internal effective field. In contrast to the purely thermally-induced mechanisms previously reported for 2D magnets, we find that coherent opto-magnetic phenomena play a major role in the excitation of magnetization dynamics in Cr<sub>2</sub>Ge<sub>2</sub>Te<sub>6</sub>. Our work sets the first steps towards electric control over the magnetization dynamics in 2D ferromagnetic semiconductors, demonstrating their potential for applications in ultrafast opto-magnonic devices.