Twist- and gate-tunable proximity spin-orbit coupling, spin relaxation anisotropy, and charge-to-spin conversion in heterostructures of graphene and transition metal dichalcogenides

Abstract

Proximity effects in van der Waals heterostructures offer controllable ways to tailor the electronic band structure of adjacent 2D materials. Here, the authors perform extensive first-principles calculations, to reveal the impact of twisting, gating, stacking, interlayer distance, and encapsulation, on the spin-orbit proximitized Dirac bands in graphene/transition metal dichalcogenide heterostructures. Furthermore, the authors make specific predictions for experimentally measurable quantities, such as charge-to-spin conversion efficiency. The results highlight the enormous tunability potential of proximity-induced phenomena in van der Waals heterostructures.