Boosting proximity spin–orbit coupling in graphene/WSe2 heterostructures via hydrostatic pressure
Authors: Bálint Fülöp, Albin Márffy, Simon Zihlmann, Martin Gmitra, Endre Tóvári, Bálint Szentpéteri, Máté Kedves, Kenji Watanabe, Takashi Taniguchi, Jaroslav Fabian, Christian Schönenberger, Péter Makk & Szabolcs Csonka
npj 2D Materials and Applications, volume 5, Article number: 82 (2021)
Abstract: Van der Waals heterostructures composed of multiple few layer crystals allow the engineering of novel materials with predefined properties. As an example, coupling graphene weakly to materials with large spin–orbit coupling (SOC) allows to engineer a sizeable SOC in graphene via proximity effects. The strength of the proximity effect depends on the overlap of the atomic orbitals, therefore, changing the interlayer distance via hydrostatic pressure can be utilized to enhance the interlayer coupling between the layers. In this work, we report measurements on a graphene/WSe2 heterostructure exposed to increasing hydrostatic pressure. A clear transition from weak localization to weak antilocalization is visible as the pressure increases, demonstrating the increase of induced SOC in graphene.