Long-distance decay-less spin transport in indirect excitons in a van der Waals heterostructure

TL;DR

This study demonstrates long-distance, decay-less spin transport in van der Waals heterostructures using indirect excitons, revealing a mechanism for spin preservation crucial for spintronic applications.

Contribution

It introduces a novel observation of decay-less spin transport in indirect excitons within heterostructures, linked to exciton superfluidity and moiré superlattice effects.

Findings

Spin transport exceeds 100 μm with no decay.

Spin localization and superfluid phases observed with varying exciton density.

Suppression of scattering enables long-distance spin transport.

Abstract

In addition to its fundamental interest, the long-distance spin transport with suppressed spin losses is essential for spintronic devices. However, the spin relaxation caused by scattering of the particles carrying the spin, limits the spin transport. We explored spatially indirect excitons (IXs), also known as interlayer excitons, in van der Waals heterostructures (HS) composed of atomically thin layers of transition-metal dichalcogenides (TMD) as spin carries. TMD HS also offer coupling of spin and valley transport. We observed the long-distance spin transport with the decay distances exceeding 100~$\mu$m and diverging so spin currents show no decay in the HS. With increasing IX density, we observed spin localization, then long-distance spin transport, and then reentrant spin localization, in agreement with the Bose-Hubbard theory prediction for superfluid and insulating phases in periodic potentials due to moir\'e superlattices. The suppression of scattering in exciton superfluid suppresses the spin relaxation and enables the long-distance spin transport. This mechanism of protection against the spin relaxation makes IXs a platform for the realization of long-distance decay-less spin transport.