Physikalisches Kolloquium

Optical and Chemical Control of Spin Functionalities in Non-Magnetic Molecular Hybrid Structures

Date:	05/12/2025, 2:15 PM - 4:45 PM
Category:	Kolloquium
Location:	Hubland Süd, Geb. P1 (Physik), Röntgen-Hörsaal, Online
Organizer:	Fakultät für Physik und Astronomie, Theoretische Physik I, Prof. Dr. Ronny Thomale
Speaker:	Prof. Dr. Benjamin Stadtmüller (Universität Augsburg, Institut für Physik, Experimentalphysik II)

Am 12. Mai 2025 um 14:15 Uhr findet das nächste Physikalische Kolloquium zum Thema "Optical and Chemical Control of Spin Functionalities in Non-Magnetic Molecular Hybrid Structures" statt. Bereits ab 13:45 Uhr können Sie sich im Foyer vor dem Röntgen-Hörsaal auf eine Tasse Kaffee oder Tee treffen.

Fundamental to the advancement of spintronics and quantum technology in solids is our ability to encode, manipulate, and store information about the spin angular momentum of electrons at increasingly shorter lengths and faster timescales. While ferromagnets have long been the natural driving target for these efforts, their intrinsic limitations in miniaturization, efficiency, and susceptibility to external stray fields have prompted the search for non-magnetic material systems that can still support spin functionalities. In this contribution, I will introduce two different classes of non-magnetic hybrid structures that enable optical and chemical control of spin functionalities at the nanoscale. First, I will focus on heterostructures consisting of molecules and non-magnetic transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) with hidden spin polarization [1].

Such hidden spin polarizations arise in centrosymmetric layered TMDs with subunits exhibiting spin polarization bands, see Fig. 1a. Using time-, spin-, and momentum-resolved photoemission, I will show how optically induced interfacial charge transfer processes at the molecule/WSe2 interfaces can transiently alter the layer-dependent valence band structure of WSe2, ultimately revealing the hidden spin polarization of the system on a fs timescale [2].