Spin response and collective modes in simple metal dichalcogenides

Abstract

Transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) monolayers are interesting materials in part because of their strong spin-orbit coupling. This leads to intrinsic spin-splitting of opposite signs in opposite valleys, so the valleys are intrinsically spin-polarized when hole-doped. We study spin response in a simple model of these materials, with an eye to identifying sharp collective modes (i.e, spin-waves) that are more commonly characteristic of ferromagnets. We demonstrate that such modes exist for arbitrarily weak repulsive interactions, even when they are too weak to induce spontaneous ferromagnetism. The behavior of the spin response is explored for a range of hole dopings and interaction strengths.