Optical spin pumping induced pseudo-magnetic field in two dimensional heterostructures

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that optical spin pumping in two-dimensional MoSe2/WSe2 heterostructures can generate a large, controllable effective magnetic field, enabling new optically controlled spintronic device functionalities.

Contribution

It introduces the concept of optically induced pseudo-magnetic fields in 2D heterostructures and quantifies their strength through polarization-resolved photoluminescence measurements.

Findings

Generated effective magnetic field exceeds 30 T.

Field strength can be tuned by light polarization.

Optical control of spin states in 2D heterostructures demonstrated.

Abstract

Two dimensional heterostructures are likely to provide new avenues for the manipulation of magnetization that is crucial for spintronics or magnetoelectronics. Here, we demonstrate that optical spin pumping can generate a large effective magnetic field in two dimensional MoSe2/WSe2 heterostructures. We determine the strength of the generated field by polarization-resolved measurement of the interlayer exciton photoluminescence spectrum: the measured splitting exceeding 10 milli-electron volts (meV) between the emission originating from the two valleys corresponds to an effective magnetic field of ~ 30 T. The strength of this optically induced field can be controlled by the excitation light polarization. Our finding opens up new possibilities for optically controlled spintronic devices based on van der Waals heterostructures.