Perfect valley polarization in MoS2

Abstract

We study perfect valley polarization in a molybdenum disulfide MoS2 nanoribbon monolayer using two bands Hamiltonian model and non-equilibrium Green's function method. The device consists of a one-dimensional quantum wire of MoS2 monolayer sandwiched between two zigzag MoS2 nanoribbons such that the sites A and B of the honeycomb lattice are constructed by the molecular orbital of Mo atoms, only. Spin-valley coupling is seen in energy dispersion curve due to the inversion asymmetry and time-reversal symmetry. Although, the time reversal symmetry is broken by applying an external magnetic field, the valley polarization is very small. A valley polarization equal to 46% can be achieved using an exchange field of 0.13 eV. It is shown that a particular spin-valley combination with perfect valley polarization can be selected based on a given set of exchange field and gate voltage as input parameters. Therefore, the valley polarization can be detected by detecting the spin degree of freedom.