We have demonstrated efficient spin-injection into graphene using h-BN as tunneling barrier. We have used CVD-grown h-BN on CVD graphene, as well as few layer h-BN on a graphene h-BN stack. We have also looked into tunneling barriers made from transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs), such as WS2 and MoS2. While very long spin-diffusion lengths have been demonstrated in graphene, the manipulation of spin in graphene requires a knob. This could be provided by a gate-tunable Rashba spin-orbit field. This we currently try to establish by studying the proximity induced spin-orbit interaction into graphene mediated from a WSe2 substrate.

Funding: graphene flagship