Quantum Sensing of Room-temperature van der Waals Magnets for Next-Generation Quantum Spintronic Device Applications

Non-Technical Abstract:

The discovery of van der Waals (vdW) magnets opens a new pathway for designing innovative two-dimensional (2D) electronics to revolutionize the current information technologies. Taking advantage of their exotic material properties, vdW magnets serve as a leading candidate for building ultracompact, all-2D spin logic devices with tailored functionalities to outperform their conventional counterparts in device compatibility, stability, density, and tunability.

Despite the enormous scientific expectation, the emerging 2D vdW spintronics research remains in its infancy in the current state of the art. One of the major challenges results from the very limited experimental tools capable of evaluating local material properties of vdW magnets at the nanoscale. In this project, the principal investigator plans to introduce scanning quantum sensing microscopy to timely address this grand challenge.

An important goal here is to demonstrate the application of scanning quantum sensing techniques in a real 2D material environment to extract previously inaccessible information on vdW spintronic devices, providing valuable insights for future improvement of 2D spintronic technologies for practical applications. In parallel, this project will dedicate a major effort in increasing society’s awareness of some of the most exciting developments and challenges in spintronics, quantum sensing, and material sciences studies.

The project will promote the participation of diverse groups of students at the forefront of scientific research. Proposed outreach activities include lectures, learning and demo materials for nearby technical colleges and high schools in the Atlanta metropolitan area, so that contemporary scientific knowledge can reach out to a significant amount of audience.

Technical Abstract:

vdW magnets with tunable lattice interactions and exotic spin properties are integral to cutting-edge scientific research, modern technologies, and therefore to a wide range of emerging applications. Taking advantage of the atomically thin nature, engineerable interfacial conditions, convenient material co-integration strategy, and readily established magnetic vdW proximity in artificial 2D stacks, vdW magnets provide an excellent platform to investigate exciting new physics and device merits that are unavailable in the 3D world.

Novel functionalities are further added thanks to the emergence of room-temperature 2D magnetism, which significantly promotes vdW spintronic devices for practical applications. Here the principal investigator proposes to utilize nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers to perform scanning quantum sensing of unconventional spin behaviors in room-temperature 2D magnet Fe3GaTe2-based vdW stacking devices.

Exploiting the unprecedented spatial and field sensitivity, this project aims to directly visualize “field-free” deterministic magnetization switching and magnetic skyrmions in Fe3GaTe2, advancing the conceptual design and experimental development of vdW spin memory devices. It is further proposed to develop hybrid systems consisting of NV centers and functional vdW magnets to address the technical challenges faced by NV centers for practical quantum information applications.

The proposed research will facilitate the development of 2D spintronic devices for emerging information communication, memory, and storage. By developing scanning NV quantum microscopy techniques and demonstrating their operations for cutting-edge material and device systems, this project proposes to provide a multimodal sensing platform, which can be readily extended to a large family of low-dimensional quantum materials, providing a new pathway for evaluating microscopic spin behaviors and device performance of innovative spintronic circuits.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.