van der Waals (vdW) based materials platform provides unprecedented flexibility to control the spin properties, modify spin-orbit coupling and electronic band structure, induce magnetic correlations by proximity effects, and study spin related phenomena emerging at the nanoscale due to reduced dimensionality. The central theme of my research is to study spins and magnetism related emergent phenomena in vdW based topological systems. The proposed research relies on atomically precise engineering of two-dimensional material properties, nanodevice physics, and advanced experimental techniques to probe spins and magnetism at the mesoscopic scale. The details of our current research thrusts are below:
Topology and symmetry breaking are at the heart of emergent phenomena in novel quantum materials. Topological materials host spin-momentum locked electronic states that can be used for an efficient spin-charge interconversion and a plethora of other novel phenomena that are highly relevant for spintronics. We are interested in exploiting the interplay of topology, symmetry breaking, and SOC in emergent topological materials, such as Weyl semimetals and topological insulators, for efficiently generating spin current with controllable spin polarization for manipulating magnetic order to enable magnetic memory, spin-logic, and stochastic bits.
We are exploring bilayer systems of ferromagnets (and antiferromagnets) and atomically thin quantum materials (e.g., graphene, TMDs, and other emergent topological materials) for dynamical spin pumping and spin-charge interconversion. We want to understand how topology alters dissipative processes, e.g., magnetic damping, which can lead to new frontiers for topological spintronics. For this, we are developing experimental techniques to study spin dynamics in mesoscopic sized vdW based quantum materials and develop new quantum sensor platforms to probing spin dynamics.
Emergent spin excitations are predicted to have a revolutionary impact on topological quantum computing and sensing applications. Fractionalized topological excitations are expected to emerge is known as quantum spin liquid (QSL), which is inferred to exist in layered materials (α-RuCl3 and 1T-TaS2). Currently, there is an intense research effort to study unusual magnetic excitations in QSL candidate materials. We are exploring if the coherent spin fluctuations in a QSL system can couple to a nearby iterant spins (or dynamic magnetization) through which the QSL phase can be probed electrically. We are also interested in studying novel spin-phenomena such as hydrodynamic-like (viscous) spin transport and spin-drag mechanisms originating from Coulomb interactions in quantum double layers.