Two-dimensional (2D) materials offer the freedom to create novel condensed matter systems, with unique properties, by mechanically assembling different (or same) 2D materials layer-by-layer to form atomically sharp vertical or lateral heterostructures. The van der Waals (vdW) heterostructures with small lattice mismatch and a relatively small twist angle between the constituent layers, have shown to exhibit coexisting complex phases of matter including Mott insulating state, superconductivity, bound quasiparticles, and topological states. The advent of the state-of-the-art angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy with high spatial resolution (micro- and nano-ARPES) and the ability to perform these measurements on fully functional devices, has made it possible to directly probe many exotic physical phenomena in 2D based material systems. In this talk, I will discuss the utilization of the nanoARPES to investigate the highly tunable many-body effects in 2D based heterostructures and their devices.

Current neutron scattering techniques can provide sample structural information on the length scales of nano- to micrometers, but it is challenging to investigate the hierarchical structures found in non-homogeneous samples. We are developing a far-field grating interferometer (INFER) to nondestructively study the microstructures of samples averaged over a voxel size of 50 µm. In order to perform far-field neutron interferometry across multiple length scales, a large number of source grating periods are used to multiplex the signal and impart the required transverse quasi-coherence. To eliminate the need of fabricating, installing, and aligning a new static source grating for each period, we have developed a DynAmic ReconfIgUrable Source grating (DARIUS). DARIUS is a wafer-scale silicon microfluidic device that allows for the real-time adjustment of the grating period, ranging from 20 µm to 20,000 µm, with the potential to replace more than 500 static source gratings. In DARIUS, each of 5,000+ individual grating channels can be selectively infilled with a neutron and x-ray absorbing fluid to modulate the neutrons, creating an absorbing grating with an effective period based on the locations of the opaque fluid. A key part of DARIUS is a diffraction grating layer fabricated on a 100 mm Si wafer. In this layer, the grating channels are etched in silicon with period of 20 µm and depth of 125 µm, corresponding to a channel volume of enough fluid to locally attenuate the neutron beam. We have previously demonstrated that we can selectively fill 128 active channels with x-ray absorbing solution and, with that, modulate in real time an x-ray beam. Our next prototype, DARIUS-2.0, has an active area of 40.96 mm x 51.20 mm with 2,560 active channels on a single side of a 100 mm Si wafer. The channels are sealed by wafer-scale eutectic bonding to a capping wafer with vias for well and pumping port access. We will present results on initial testing of DARIUS-2.0 with x-ray imaging and progress on scaling up to a double-sided grating device to be incorporated in INFER to unlock the ability of analysis over a wider range of length scales.

Recently, the combination of 2-dimensional (2D) magnetism [1] with the field of spintronics, i.e. the manipulation of magnetic states with electric currents, has started to gain much traction in modern solid-state physics. The prospect of highly efficient low-dimensional devices, extreme ease to fabricate versatile heterostructures by stacking of separate individual layers, and the report of chiral topological magnetic solitons in 2D itinerant ferromagnets have further enhanced the field’s interest in this fascinating class of materials. Requirements for technological implementation, however, are generally to realize both the fabrication of nanoscale devices and to understand different potential ways to tailor the material parameters and ferromagnetic ordering temperatures [2,3] in desirable ways.

In this work, we utilize real-space imaging of the magnetic texture in thin flakes of the van der Waals magnets Fe_xGeTe₂ to determine magnetic phase diagrams of various exfoliated films with varying compositions. We furthermore realize devices for local injection of skyrmions by means of vertical nanocontacts. Our findings show besides complex, history-dependent magnetization states also that changes in the composition and crystalline structure significantly alter the magnetic behavior and may be used to tune the stability of skyrmions or other magnetic textures in these novel magnetic systems. Ultimately, the choice of composition and nucleation mechanism result in a selective stabilization of a variety of (meta-) stable magnetic configurations. Especially individual skyrmions can then be injected by targeted current pulses through a nanocontact. Our findings open novel perspectives for designing van der Waal heterostructure-based devices incorporating topological spin textures.

References:

1. Burch K. S., Mandrus, D., Park, J. G. (2018). Magnetism in two-dimensional van der Waals materials. Nature 563, 47–52.

2. May A. F. et al. (2019). Ferromagnetism Near Room Temperature in the Cleavable van der Waals Crystal Fe5GeTe2. ACS Nano 13, 4436–4442.

3. Chen H. et al. (2022) Revealing room temperature ferromagnetism in exfoliated Fe5GeTe2 flakes with quantum magnetic imaging. 2D Materials 9 025017.