Tunneling current-controlled spin states in few-layer van der Waals magnets.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 38693113.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-024-47820-5 and PMC identifier 11063166.
- 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
Effective control of magnetic phases in two-dimensional magnets would constitute crucial progress in spintronics, holding great potential for future computing technologies. Here, we report a new approach of leveraging tunneling current as a tool for controlling spin states in CrI<sub>3</sub>. We reveal that a tunneling current can deterministically switch between spin-parallel and spin-antiparallel states in few-layer CrI<sub>3</sub>, depending on the polarity and amplitude of the current. We propose a mechanism involving nonequilibrium spin accumulation in the graphene electrodes in contact with the CrI<sub>3</sub> layers. We further demonstrate tunneling current-tunable stochastic switching between multiple spin states of the CrI<sub>3</sub> tunnel devices, which goes beyond conventional bi-stable stochastic magnetic tunnel junctions and has not been documented in two-dimensional magnets. Our findings not only address the existing knowledge gap concerning the influence of tunneling currents in controlling the magnetism in two-dimensional magnets, but also unlock possibilities for energy-efficient probabilistic and neuromorphic computing.