What Has Been Achieved: Proposal of a new type of spin texture, the spin anti-vortex, prove of its existence and stability through the Poincare-Hopf theorem, and prediction of fingerprints of spin anti-vortices in spin transport phenomena, including current-induced spin polarization and spin Hall effect.
Importance of the Achievement: This is the first work to show a spin anti-vortex in real materials and may stimulate a new research direction in spin-orbit coupled materials. The work also show that monolayer Pb and similar 2D heavy metals can serve as an excellent platform for the study of spin transport phenomena and spintronic applications.
Unique Feature(s) of the MRSEC/PREM that Enabled this Achievement: Closed-loop integration of synthesis, simulation, and measurement.
Physical Review Letters 128, no. 16 (2022): 166601, https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.128.166601