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Ultrafast spin injection in graphene via dynamical carrier filtering at transition metal dichalcogenide interfaces

Shunsuke Yamada1,*, Arqum Hashmi2, and Tomohito Otobe1

  • *Contact author: yamada.shunsuke@qst.go.jp
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Phys. Rev. Research 8, 013300 – Published 19 March, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/xslx-wnb6

Abstract

We report a real-time first-principles study of ultrafast spin injection in a WSe2-graphene heterobilayer under circularly polarized laser irradiation, using time-dependent density functional theory. Contrary to conventional expectations, spin transfer into graphene is not a passive process but is actively driven by spin-selective carrier filtering at the interface. Spin-polarized carriers generated in the WSe2 layer induce a preferential migration of opposite-spin carriers from graphene, which results in net spin magnetization in graphene. This process is governed by interlayer band offsets, density-of-state asymmetry, and Pauli blocking. These findings indicate a microscopic mechanism of spin injection in nonmagnetic systems and identify a guiding principle for the design of ultrafast optospintronic functionalities in van der Waals heterostructures.

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Phys. Rev. Research 8, 013300– Published 19 March, 2026
  • Received 10 September 2025
  • Accepted 10 February 2026
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Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.

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