Edelstein Effect in Ferromagnetic Monolayers Fe3GaTe2 and Fe3GeTe2

Overview & Synopsis

The Edelstein effect enables intrinsic current-induced spin polarization in noncentrosymmetric van der Waals magnets. Here, we compare the Edelstein responses of monolayer \ce{Fe3GaTe2} and \ce{Fe3GeTe2} using first-principles Wannier-based linear-response calculations. Despite sharing the same noncentrosymmetric $D_{3h}$ symmetry and selection rules, the two materials show markedly different time-reversal-even and -odd spin accumulations in magnitude, sign, and energy dependence. Strong responses occur mainly near $-0.4$~eV in \ce{Fe3GaTe2} and $+0.4$~eV in \ce{Fe3GeTe2}. At the intrinsic Fermi level, atom-resolved analysis shows that Ga-to-Ge substitution reverses the even contribution of the inequivalent Fe3 site for both in-plane magnetization directions and enhances its negative odd contribution, reorganizing the cancellation among atomic sites. Momentum-resolved calculations link the hole-side response of \ce{Fe3GaTe2} to a few large $Γ$-centered Fermi contours, whereas the electron-side response of \ce{Fe3GeTe2} involves dense Fe-$3d$ bands with strong interband contributions. The even response arises from incomplete cancellation of opposite-sign intraband Fermi-surface contributions, while the odd response originates from interband coherence between closely spaced states. Magnetization rotation reveals symmetry-constrained angular dependences with higher-order harmonics, especially in the $xz$ plane, while biaxial strain causes substantial amplitude changes and sign reversals. These results show how crystal symmetry, electronic structure, magnetization orientation, and lattice deformation govern the intrinsic Edelstein effect in \ce{Fe3$X$Te2} ($X=\mathrm{Ga},\mathrm{Ge}$).