Exploring Materials and Application of Two-Dimensional Magnets
Prof. Tula Paudel
Department of Physics
SDSMT
Two dimensional magnets have been at the forefront of research and development in condensed matter physics for about a decade, owing to the physics they enable us to explore and the potential applications they may drive. In this context, I will discuss my group's efforts in exploring the fundamental physics and properties of Chromium di-iodide (CrI2) and Chromium tri-iodide (CrI3), FexGeTe2 (3 ≤ x ≤ 7), and VSe2 using first principles density functional theory and associated techniques. As a potential application of these materials, I will discuss spin filtering in junctions CrI3 tunnel that provide insights for the design of magnetoresistive devices based on 2D magnetic materials. Our exploration of the tunnel junction device involving face-centered cubic Cu (111) electrodes and a CrI3 tunnel barrier shows about 100% spin polarization of the tunneling current and tunneling magnetoresistance of about 3,000%, which is associated with a change of magnetic ordering. We interpret these results in terms of the spin and wave-vector dependent evanescent states which control the tunneling conductance.
Reference: 1. Khimananda Acharya, Kai Huang, Evgeny Y. Tsymbal, and Tula R. Paudel, First-principles investigation of the emergence of multiferroicity and skyrmions in CrI2 Physical Review B, 111, 094435 (2025) 2. Tula R. Paudel, Evgeny Y. Tsymbal, Spin filtering in CrI3 tunnel junctions. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces.11(17):15781-15787 (2019).
Hosted by Prof. Ghimire