Effective control of magnetic phases in two-dimensional magnets would constitute crucial progress in spintronics, holding great potential for future computing technologies. Here, we report a new approach of leveraging tunneling current as a tool for controlling spin states in CrI₃. We reveal that a tunneling current can deterministically switch between spin-parallel and spin-antiparallel states in few-layer CrI₃, depending on the polarity and amplitude of the current. We propose a mechanism involving nonequilibrium spin accumulation in the graphene electrodes in contact with the CrI₃ layers. We further demonstrate tunneling current-tunable stochastic switching between multiple spin states of the CrI₃ tunnel devices, which goes beyond conventional bi-stable stochastic magnetic tunnel junctions and has not been documented in two-dimensional magnets. Our findings not only address the existing knowledge gap concerning the influence of tunneling currents in controlling the magnetism in two-dimensional magnets, but also unlock possibilities for energy-efficient probabilistic and neuromorphic computing.

二维磁体磁相的有效控制将构成自旋电子学的关键进展，为未来的计算技术带来巨大潜力。在这里，我们报告了一种利用隧道电流作为控制 CrI ₃自旋态的工具的新方法。我们揭示了隧道电流可以在几层 CrI ₃中确定性地在自旋平行和自旋反平行状态之间切换，具体取决于电流的极性和幅度。我们提出了一种涉及与 CrI ₃层接触的石墨烯电极中非平衡自旋积累的机制。我们进一步证明了 CrI ₃隧道器件的多个自旋态之间的隧道电流可调随机切换，这超出了传统的双稳态随机磁隧道结，并且尚未在二维磁体中得到记录。我们的研究结果不仅解决了有关隧道电流在控制二维磁体磁性方面的影响的现有知识差距，而且还开启了节能概率和神经形态计算的可能性。