Photogalvanic-effect-induced generation of simultaneous charge and spin currents in a four-probe monolayer MoS2 device
Phys. Rev. Applied 25, 014003 – Published 2 January, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/cw1g-yj49
Abstract
The generation of pure spin current, as well as that of pure charge current, is critical for future quantum information processing. Here, we propose a four-probe device based on monolayer and investigate both linear and circular photogalvanic effects by employing the nonequilibrium Green’s function combined with density functional theory. Under linearly polarized light, when the polarization direction aligns with one of the transport directions, a pure spin photocurrent is generated along the zigzag direction, while a pure charge photocurrent is produced simultaneously along the armchair direction. This effect is independent of the incident angle for light incident from a plane perpendicular to the monolayer . In contrast, simultaneous generation of pure spin and pure charge photocurrents cannot be realized under circularly polarized light. Symmetry analysis of the bulk-spin photovoltaic effect indicates that concurrent generation of pure charge and pure spin currents requires broken inversion symmetry combined with mirror symmetry along a specific direction. This mechanism extends to a wide range of two-dimensional materials, offering opportunities for photogalvanic effects in next-generation electronic and spintronic devices.