Fundamentals and applications of Van der Waals magnets in magnon spintronics

TL;DR

This paper reviews the progress and challenges in utilizing atomically thin Van der Waals magnets for magnon-based spintronics, highlighting their potential for low-damping, non-reciprocal spin current applications.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive perspective on how Van der Waals magnets can advance magnon spintronics, emphasizing recent developments and future challenges.

Findings

Van der Waals magnets enable tunable magnon spin currents.

Low damping and non-reciprocal transport are key advantages.

Recent research shows promising applications in information technology.

Abstract

Spintronics is concerned with replacing charge current with current of spin, the electron's intrinsic angular momentum. In magnetic insulators, spin currents are carried by magnons, the quanta of spin-wave excitations on top of the magnetically ordered state. Magnon spin currents are especially promising for information technology due to their low intrinsic damping, non-reciprocal transport, micrometer wavelengths at microwave frequencies, and strong interactions that enable signal transduction. In this perspective, we give our view on the progress and challenges towards realizing magnon spintronics based on atomically thin Van der Waals magnets, a recently discovered class of magnetic materials of which the tunability and versatility has attracted a great deal of ongoing research.