Moiré Engineering of Spin-Orbit Torque by Twisted WS<sub>2</sub> Homobilayers.

Liang, Xiaorong; Lv, Penghao; Xiong, Yunhai; Chen, Xi; Fu, Di; Feng, Yiping; Wang, Xusheng; Chen, Xiang et al. · Adv Mater · 2024

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

Artificial moiré superlattices created by stacking 2D crystals have emerged as a powerful platform with unprecedented material-engineering capabilities. While moiré superlattices are reported to host a number of novel quantum states, their potential for spintronic applications remains largely unexplored. Here, the effective manipulation of spin-orbit torque (SOT) is demonstrated using moiré superlattices in ferromagnetic devices comprised of twisted WS<sub>2</sub>/WS<sub>2</sub> homobilayer (t-WS<sub>2</sub>) and CoFe/Pt thin films by altering twisting angle (θ) and gate voltage. Notably, a substantial enhancement of up to 44.5% is observed in SOT conductivity at θ ≈ 8.3°. Furthermore, compared to the WS<sub>2</sub> monolayer and untwisted WS<sub>2</sub>/WS<sub>2</sub> bilayers, the moiré superlattices in t-WS<sub>2</sub> enable a greater gate-voltage tunability of SOT conductivity. These results are related to the generation of the interfacial moiré magnetic field by the real-space Berry phase in moiré superlattices, which modulates the absorption of the spin-Hall current arising from Pt through the magnetic proximity effect. This study highlights the moiré physics as a new building block for designing enhanced spintronic devices.