Complete Magneto-Optic Modulation of Lateral and Angular Shifts in Spin-Orbit Coupled Members of the Graphene Family

TL;DR

This paper theoretically explores how large spin-orbit coupling in 2D staggered materials like certain graphene derivatives enables electric and magnetic field control of beam shifts, with potential applications in quantum info and valleytronics.

Contribution

It demonstrates the possibility of giant, tunable spatial and angular Goos-Hanchen shifts in spin-orbit rich 2D materials under electric and magnetic fields.

Findings

Giant spatial and angular GH shifts achievable near Brewster angle in terahertz regime.

Beam shifts depend on chemical potential and can be controlled electrically.

Potential for spin and valley dependent optical effects in quantum information and biosensing.

Abstract

The intrinsic spin-orbit coupling in the 2D staggered monolayer semiconductors is very large as compared to graphene. The large spin orbit interaction in these materials leads to the opening of a gap in the energy spectrum and spin-splitting of the bands in each valley. In this paper, we theoretically investigate the mechanical steering of beams from these spin-orbit rich, staggered 2D materials. Mechanical steering results in noticeable deviations of the reflected and transmitted ray profiles as predicted from classical laws of optics. These effects are generally called the Goos-Hanchen (GH) and Imbert-Fedorov shifts. We find that electric and magnetic field modulated giant spatial and angular GH shifts can be achieved in these materials for incident angles in the vicinity of Brewster angle in terahertz regime. We also determine the dependence of beam shifts on the chemical potential and find that the Brewster angle and the sign of GH shift can be controlled by varying the chemical potential. This allows the possibility of realizing spin and valley dependent optical effects that can be useful readout markers for experiments in quantum information processing, biosensing and valleytronics, employed in the terahertz regime.