Electrically switchable van der Waals magnon valves

Guangyi Chen; Shaomian Qi; Jianqiao Liu; Di Chen; Jiongjie Wang; Shili Yan; Yu Zhang; Shimin Cao; Ming Lu; Shibing Tian; Kangyao Chen; Peng Yu; Zheng Liu; X C Xie; Jiang Xiao; Ryuichi Shindou; Jian-Hao Chen

doi:10.1038/s41467-021-26523-1

Electrically switchable van der Waals magnon valves

Nat Commun. 2021 Nov 1;12(1):6279. doi: 10.1038/s41467-021-26523-1.

Authors

Guangyi Chen^#¹, Shaomian Qi^#¹, Jianqiao Liu¹, Di Chen^{1

2}, Jiongjie Wang³, Shili Yan², Yu Zhang², Shimin Cao^{1

2}, Ming Lu^{1

2}, Shibing Tian⁴, Kangyao Chen¹, Peng Yu⁵, Zheng Liu⁶, X C Xie^{1

2

7}, Jiang Xiao³, Ryuichi Shindou¹, Jian-Hao Chen^{8

9

10

11}

Affiliations

¹ International Center for Quantum Materials, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing, China.
² Beijing Academy of Quantum Information Sciences, Beijing, China.
³ Department of Physics and State Key Laboratory of Surface Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
⁴ Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
⁵ State Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Materials and Technologies, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China.
⁶ School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore.
⁷ CAS Center for Excellence in Topological Quantum Computation, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
⁸ International Center for Quantum Materials, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing, China. chenjianhao@pku.edu.cn.
⁹ Beijing Academy of Quantum Information Sciences, Beijing, China. chenjianhao@pku.edu.cn.
¹⁰ Key Laboratory for the Physics and Chemistry of Nanodevices, Peking University, Beijing, China. chenjianhao@pku.edu.cn.
¹¹ Interdisciplinary Institute of Light-Element Quantum Materials and Research Center for Light-Element Advanced Materials, Peking University, Beijing, China. chenjianhao@pku.edu.cn.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Van der Waals magnets have emerged as a fertile ground for the exploration of highly tunable spin physics and spin-related technology. Two-dimensional (2D) magnons in van der Waals magnets are collective excitation of spins under strong confinement. Although considerable progress has been made in understanding 2D magnons, a crucial magnon device called the van der Waals magnon valve, in which the magnon signal can be completely and repeatedly turned on and off electrically, has yet to be realized. Here we demonstrate such magnon valves based on van der Waals antiferromagnetic insulator MnPS₃. By applying DC electric current through the gate electrode, we show that the second harmonic thermal magnon (SHM) signal can be tuned from positive to negative. The guaranteed zero crossing during this tuning demonstrates a complete blocking of SHM transmission, arising from the nonlinear gate dependence of the non-equilibrium magnon density in the 2D spin channel. Using the switchable magnon valves we demonstrate a magnon-based inverter. These results illustrate the potential of van der Waals anti-ferromagnets for studying highly tunable spin-wave physics and for application in magnon-base circuitry in future information technology.