Giant proximity exchange and flat Chern band in 2D magnet-semiconductor heterostructures

Abstract

Van der Waals (vdW) heterostructures formed by two-dimensional magnets and semiconductors have provided a fertile ground for fundamental science and for spintronics. We present first-principles calculations finding a proximity exchange splitting of 14 meV equivalent to an effective Zeeman field of 120 T in the vdW magnet-semiconductor heterostructure MoS2/CrBr3, leading to a 2D spinpolarized half-metal with carrier densities ranging up to 10 13 cm −2 . We consequently explore the effect of large exchange coupling on the electronic bandstructure when the magnetic layer hosts chiral spin textures such as skyrmions. A flat Chern band is found at a "magic" value of magnetization m ∼ 0.2 for Schrödinger electrons, and it generally occurs for Dirac electrons. The magnetic proximity induced anomalous Hall effect enables transport-based detection of chiral spin textures, and flat Chern bands provides an avenue for engineering various strongly correlated states.