Spin-valley relaxation and quantum transport regimes in two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides

Abstract

Quantum transport and spintronics regimes are studied in p- and n-doped atomic layers of hexagonal transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs), subject to the interplay between the valley structure and spin-orbit coupling. We find how spin relaxation of carriers depends on their areal density and show that it vanishes for holes near the band edge, leading to the density-independent spin diffusion length, and we develop a theory of weak localisation/antilocalisation, describing the crossovers between the orthogonal, double-unitary and symplectic regimes of quantum transport in TMDCs.