February 2021

Scientists from several research institutes in Germany and the UK have demonstrated that few-cycle linearly polarized pulses can induce a high degree of valley polarization.

The mechanism to induce such polarization does not rely on the optical selection rules, and therefore can be in principle used in inversion symmetric materials, such as TMD bilayers or graphene. This could enable the design of ultrafast valleytronic devices.

Researchers from Sweden's Uppsala university and from UK's Element Six have demonstrated electrical valley control in 3D dual-gate diamond field-effect transistors.

The team has fabricated valley transistors on single-crystalline diamond plates with ultra-low nitrogen impurity concentrations. A dual-gate configuration was used to gain a high degree of freedom of the control of the valley currents. The control of location and time of the valley-polarized currents was achieved by adding multiple drain electrodes.

Researchers from ETH Zurich and Aalto University showed that sandwiching two slightly rotated layers of graphene between a ferromagnetic insulator provides a unique setting for new electronic states.

The combination of ferromagnets, graphene's twist engineering, and relativistic effects force the "valley" property to dominate the electrons behavior in the material. In particular, the researchers showed how these valley-only states can be tuned electrically, providing a materials platform in which valley-only states can be generated.