Proximity-induced spin-polarized magnetocaloric effect in transition metal dichalcogenides

Abstract

We explore proximity-induced magnetocaloric effect (MCE) on transition metal dichalcogenides, focusing on a two-dimensional (2D) MoTe2 monolayer deposited on a ferromagnetic semiconductor EuO substrate connected to a heat source. We model this heterostructure using a tight-binding model, incorporating exchange, and Rashba fields induced by proximity to EuO and including temperature through Fermi statistics and mean-field calculations. The MCE is induced on the 2D MoTe2 layer due to the EuO substrate, revealing large spin-polarized entropy changes for energies out of the band gap of the MoTe2-EuO system. By gating the chemical potential, the MCE can be tuned to produce heating for spin up and cooling for spin down across the K- and K′-valley splitting in the valence band, whereas heats for both spins in the conduction band up to the EuO Curie temperature. The Rashba field enhances the MCE in the valence zone whereas decreasing it in the conduction bands. The exchange field-induced MCE could be useful to produce tunable spin-polarized thermal responses in magnetic proximitized 2D materials.