Optical and mechanical probing of 2D magnetic systems with Xiao-Xiao Zhang

Atomically thin van der Waals materials provide a versatile and unique platform for exploring novel physical interactions at low dimensionality and enabling new device geometries with tunable functionalities. In this talk, I will mainly focus on our recent progress on 2D magnetic materials and low-dimensional magnetic molecules. In the first part, I will present the results on achieving spin manipulation and sensing through the interlayer coupling with the pseudospin valley degrees of freedom in 2D semiconductors using optical and optoelectronic methods. The talk will then focus on our recent results showing the mechanical-to-magnetic coupling with nano mechanical resonators. I will show that in 2D AFM transition-metal phosphorous trichalcogenides, magnetostriction responses give us the expected steady-state spin-flop transitions as well as signatures of additional transitions arising from magnetic domain dynamics. The last part focuses on the organic 2D molecular system with bistable spin transitions. I will discuss fabrication, integration with other 2D systems, and the identification of layer-dependent spin-crossover transitions with optomechanical approach. This lecture was made possible by the William C. Ferguson Fund.