Imaging of a van der Waals spin-orbit torque system using spin ensembles in hBN

Xi Zhang; Jingcheng Zhou; Chaowei Hu; PeiYu Cai; Kuangyin Deng; Chuangtang Wang; Nishkarsh Agarwal; Hanshang Jin; Faris A. Al-Matouq; Stelo Xu; Roshan S. Trivedi; Senlei Li; Sumedh Rathi; Hanyi Lu; Zhigang Jiang; Valentin Taufour; Robert Hovden; Liuyan Zhao; Ran Cheng; Xiaodong Xu; Elton J. G. Santos; Jiun-Haw Chu; Chunhui Rita Du; Hailong Wang

doi:10.1038/s41467-026-74178-7

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Imaging of a van der Waals spin-orbit torque system using spin ensembles in hBN

Xi Zhang et al.

2026Nature Communications 17, 7350CC BY 4.0LCP000062

Nat. Commun. 17, 7350 (2026) · DOI: 10.1038/s41467-026-74178-7

License: CC BY 4.0.

Abstract

Recently, optically active spin defects embedded in two-dimensional (2D) van der Waals (vdW) crystals have emerged as a transformative quantum sensing platform to explore cutting-edge materials science. Taking advantage of excellent solid-state integrability, this new class of spin defects can be readily arranged in nanoscale proximity to target materials, showing great promise for realizing in-situ quantum sensing of microscopic spin and charge behaviors in vdW heterostructures. Here we report hexagonal boron nitride-based quantum imaging of field-free deterministic magnetic switching and electric current distributions in an all-vdW spin-orbit torque (SOT) system. By visualizing variations of nanoscale magnetic stray field profile of room-temperature 2D magnet Fe 3 GaTe 2 under different SOT conditions, we show how the magnetic switching evolves from deterministic to stochastic behavior due to the interplay between spin orientations, anisotropy and Joule heating. Micromagnetic simulations rationalize our results well, revealing the role of field-like SOT in inhibiting thermal fluctuation driven stochastic switching and chaotic multi-domain competition. This understanding, which is otherwise difficult to access by conventional transport measurements, offers valuable insights into material design, testing, and performance evaluation of next-generation vdW spintronic devices.

Figures

11 panels with data across 4 figures. Each panel page shows the plot, its columns and its files; each data.csv begins with a header naming the paper, the panel, the source, the license and the provenance route.

Fig. 1

panel (h): Normalized anomalous Hall resistance $R_\mathrm{AHE}$ of Fe$_3$GaTe$_2$ against write current pulse $I_\mathrm{p}$ (mA) applied along the a-axis of WTe$_2$, with no external field. Four sweeps from zero, named by the initial state and sweep direction, as the print's colours and arrows show. data.csv
panel (i): Normalized anomalous Hall resistance $R_\mathrm{AHE}$ of Fe$_3$GaTe$_2$ against write current pulse $I_\mathrm{p}$ (mA) applied along the b-axis of WTe$_2$, with no external field. Four sweeps from zero, named by the initial state and sweep direction, as the print's colours and arrows show. data.csv

Fig. 2

panel (i): Anomalous Hall resistance $R_\mathrm{AHE}$ ($\Omega$) of Fe$_3$GaTe$_2$ against write current pulse $I_\mathrm{p}$ (mA) with no external field, one loop swept from zero to $+7$, to $-7$ and back to zero mA. The red points A to H that mark the imaging states, and the arrows, are not drawn. data.csv

Fig. 3

panel (a-1): Top of panel (a): simulated normalized current density $J$ against time (ns), $+1$ up to 3 ns and $-1$ after. The dashed line marks zero. data.csv
panel (a-2): Bottom of panel (a): simulated normalized out-of-plane magnetization $M_z$ of Fe$_3$GaTe$_2$ against time (ns) under the current of the top panel. The red arrows marking the snapshot times of (b) to (i) and the 3D trajectory inset are not drawn. data.csv

Fig. 4

panel (a-1): Top of panel (a): write current $I_\mathrm{p}$ (mA) against time (s), a train of $\pm$6.5 mA pulses along the a-axis of WTe$_2$; the 0.1 mA steps between pulses are the sensing current. data.csv
panel (a-2): Bottom of panel (a): normalized anomalous Hall resistance $R_\mathrm{AHE}$ of Fe$_3$GaTe$_2$ against time (s) during the $\pm$6.5 mA pulse train along the a-axis of WTe$_2$ shown above it. data.csv
panel (c-1): Top of panel (c): write current $I_\mathrm{p}$ (mA) against time (s), a train of $\pm$8.5 mA pulses along the a-axis of WTe$_2$; the 0.1 mA steps between pulses are the sensing current. data.csv
panel (c-2): Bottom of panel (c): normalized anomalous Hall resistance $R_\mathrm{AHE}$ of Fe$_3$GaTe$_2$ against time (s) during the $\pm$8.5 mA pulse train along the a-axis of WTe$_2$ shown above it. data.csv
panel (e-1): Top of panel (e): write current $I_\mathrm{p}$ (mA) against time (s), a train of $\pm$6.5 mA pulses along the b-axis of WTe$_2$; the 0.1 mA steps between pulses are the sensing current. data.csv
panel (e-2): Bottom of panel (e): normalized anomalous Hall resistance $R_\mathrm{AHE}$ of Fe$_3$GaTe$_2$ against time (s) during the $\pm$6.5 mA pulse train along the b-axis of WTe$_2$ shown above it. data.csv

Fig. 5

The underlying data is not available. The figure is shown in the paper PDF.

Cite

Xi Zhang et al. (24 authors). Imaging of a van der Waals spin-orbit torque system using spin ensembles in hBN. Nat. Commun. 17, 7350 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-74178-7

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