Emergent Spin-Orbit Torques in Two-Dimensional Material/Ferromagnet Interfaces

Frederico J. Sousa, Gen Tatara, Aires Ferreira

Published 2020-05-19Version 1

Heterostructures of two-dimensional (2D) materials provide a testbed for interface-induced magnetic phenomena owing to their hybridized electronic structure with a strong interplay between spin and lattice-pseudospin degrees of freedom. In this work, we present a general microscopic theory of spin-orbit torque (SOT) in heterostructures of 2D monolayers proximity coupled to ferromagnets. A number of unconventional and measurable interfacial effects are predicted, the most remarkable of which is a giant enhancement of antidamping SOT induced by a robust skew scattering mechanism, which is operative in realistic 2D materials. Our findings highlight the rich behavior of magnetized 2D Dirac fermions with multiple spin-like SU(2) degrees of freedom in atomically thin materials and suggest novel approaches to deterministic switching of magnetic memory devices.