Spin filtering with one-dimensional CrSbSe₃

The ever-increasing demands for faster, lighter, and smaller electronic components for information storing and processing have prompted intense research in finding novel one-dimensional (1D) quantum materials with spin functionality. A promising candidate is 1D CrSbSe₃, which is the only experimentally verified 1D structure that maintains its ferromagnetic semiconductor behavior after exfoliation from its bulk phase. 1D CrSbSe₃ has been shown to be air stable for an extended period of time and has a predicted Curie temperature of ~ 170 K. From density functional theory calculations, we confirm CrSbSe₃ as a ferromagnetic semiconductor. The indirect exchange mechanism mediated by Se is found to be responsible for the long-range ferromagnetic ordering. The noncollinear calculation reveals a weak spin-orbit interaction in CrSbSe₃, suggesting a long spin coherence length in the 1D channel. A quantum transport approach that relies on spin conserved tunneling is used to predict the spin-dependent transport properties of CrSbSe₃. Our results reveal that up to an applied bias of ~ 0.6 eV, there is a strongly spin-polarized current with a high spin injection factor (SIF) of 100%. The SIF remains above 96% up to an applied bias of ~ 0.9 eV, suggesting 1D CrSbSe₃ can potentially be used as an efficient spin filter.