Interlayer magnetoelectric coupling in van der Waals structures

We propose a method to intrinsically realize the nonvolatile electrical control of noncollinear antiferromagnetism, and translate our idea to concrete van der Waals VI2 bilayers from the first -principles calculations. In VI2 bilayer systems, we unravel that the sliding ferroelectricity couples strongly to the spin spiral chirality of each VI2 monolayer, which we refer to as the spin spiral chirality-sliding ferroelectricity locking effect. In this view, a flexibly electrical switch of the noncollinear antiferromagnetism can be realized via interlayer sliding. Our work therefore opens a different direction for the study of type -II multiferroic materials in two dimensions.