Probing Spin Dynamics of van der Waals Magnetic Heterostructures using Cryo-Sagnac magneto-optical Kerr Interferometry and qSPLEEM

Van der Waals (vdW) magnetic heterostructures are fundamental platforms to study novel spin dynamics and magnetic phenomena on an atomically thin scale and these devices have applications in fields such as low power electronics and magnetic random-access memory. In our group, we investigate spin-orbit torque driven spin dynamics in vdW magnetic and topological [1] devices in a steady and current driven quasi-dynamic state. We utilize advanced optical and electron microscope techniques such as cryogenic Sagnac magneto-optical Kerr rotation interferometry[2] to sensitively readout the out of plane magnetic moments and spin-polarized low energy electron microscopy (SPLEEM) at the Molecular Foundry at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) [3] to image surface state electron spin textures. I will discuss our recent progress using these two probes to study novel 2D spin textures at micron-scale and nanometer-scale spatial spin resolutions.