Theoretical Design of Mono-Elemental Ferroelectricity with Tunable Spin Textures in Bilayer Tellurium

Abstract

2D Ferroelectricity with switchable electric polarization has drawn widespread attention in condensed matter physics due to its crucial applications in non-volatile memory and ferroelectric spin devices. Despite recent progress in 2D ferroelectric, achieving the mono-elemental ferroelectricity still remains a great challenge because most nonmetallic mono-elemental materials are stabilized in nonpolar crystal structures. In this work, we theoretically designed mono-elemental ferroelectricity with tunable and significant spin textures in bilayer tellurium (BL-Te). Comprehensive quantitative polarization calculations demonstrate that asymmetric stacking in BL-Te can generate out-of-plane (OOP) polarization with a magnitude of 0.78 pC/m. This polarization stems from distinguishing interlayer and intra-layer contributions. Moreover, these stacked BL-Te, characterized by significant spin-orbit coupling, serve as an ideal platform for investigating both conventional spin polarization and layer-dependent/hidden spin polarization through ferroelectric reversion. Our work not only broaden the category of 2D mono-elemental ferroelectric but also offer a new platform for multifunctional nanodevices.