Research progress of spin-orbit torques based on two-dimensional materials

Abstract

The spin-orbit torque generated by charge current in a strong spin-orbit coupling material provides a fast and efficient way to manipulate the magnetic moment in adjacent magnetic layers, which is expected to be used for developing low-power, high-performance spintronic devices. Two-dimensional materials have attracted great attention, for example, they have abundant species, a variety of crystal structures and symmetries, good adjustability of spin-orbit coupling strength and conductivity, and good ability to overcome the lattice mismatch to form high-quality heterojunctions, thereby providing a unique platform for studying the spin-orbit torques. This paper covers the latest research progress of spin-orbital torques in two-dimensional materials and their heterostructures, including their generations, characteristics, and magnetization manipulations in the heterostructures based on non-magnetic two-dimensional materials (such as MoS2, WSe2, WS2, WTe2, TaTe2, MoTe2, NbSe2, PtTe2, TaS2, etc.) and magnetic two-dimensional materials (such as Fe3GeTe2, Cr2Ge2Te6, etc.). Finally, some problems remaining to be solved and challenges are pointed out, and the possible research directions and potential applications of two-dimensional material spin-orbit torque are also proposed.