Twist-angle-tunable spin texture in WSe2/graphene van der Waals heterostructures

Abstract

Twist engineering has emerged as a powerful approach for modulating electronic properties in van der Waals heterostructures. While theoretical works have predicted the modulation of spin texture in graphene-based heterostructures by twist angle, experimental studies are lacking. Here, by performing spin precession experiments, we demonstrate tunability of the spin texture and associated spin–charge interconversion with twist angle in WSe2/graphene heterostructures. For specific twist angles, we detect a spin component radial with the electron’s momentum, in addition to the standard orthogonal component. Our results show that the helicity of the spin texture can be reversed by twist angle, highlighting the critical role of the twist angle in the spin–orbit properties of WSe2/graphene heterostructures and paving the way for the development of spin-twistronic devices. The authors experimentally demonstrate twist-angle modulation of the spin texture in graphene-based heterostructures.