Proximity-induced ferromagnetism and chemical reactivity in few-layer VSe 2 heterostructures

DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevB.101.035404

Authors: G. Vinai (Istituto Officina dei Materiali (IOM)-CNR) , C. Bigi (Istituto Officina dei Materiali (IOM)-CNR; Università degli Studi di Milano) , A. Rajan (University of St Andrews) , M. D. Watson (University of St Andrews) , T.-L. Lee (Diamond Light Source) , F. Mazzola (University of St Andrews) , S. Modesti (Istituto Officina dei Materiali (IOM)-CNR; Università di Trieste) , S. Barua (University of Warwick; Birla Institute of Technology) , M. Ciomaga Hatnean (University of Warwick) , G. Balakrishnan (University of Warwick) , P. D. C. King (University of St Andrews) , P. Torelli (Istituto Officina dei Materiali (IOM)-CNR) , G. Rossi (Istituto Officina dei Materiali (IOM)-CNR; Università degli Studi di Milano) , G. Panaccione (Istituto Officina dei Materiali (IOM)-CNR)
Co-authored by industrial partner: No

Type: Journal Paper
Journal: Physical Review B , VOL 101

State: Published (Approved)
Published: January 2020
Diamond Proposal Number(s): 21429

Abstract: Among transition-metal dichalcogenides, mono and few-layers thick VSe 2 has gained much recent attention following claims of intrinsic room-temperature ferromagnetism in this system, which have nonetheless proved controversial. Here, we address the magnetic and chemical properties of Fe / VSe 2 heterostructure by combining element sensitive x-ray absorption spectroscopy and photoemission spectroscopy. Our x-ray magnetic circular dichroism results confirm recent findings that both native mono/few-layer and bulk VSe 2 do not show intrinsic ferromagnetic ordering. Nonetheless, we find that ferromagnetism can be induced, even at room temperature, after coupling with a Fe thin film layer, with antiparallel alignment of the moment on the V with respect to Fe. We further consider the chemical reactivity at the Fe / VSe 2 interface and its relation with interfacial magnetic coupling.

Journal Keywords: Chemical bonding; Magnetic coupling; Magnetism; Spintronics; Structural properties; Surface & interfacial phenomena; Surface diffusion; Surface states; 2-dimensional systems; Interfaces; Thin films; Transition-metal dichalcogenide

Diamond Keywords: Ferromagnetism; Antiferromagnetism

Subject Areas: Materials, Physics


Instruments: I09-Surface and Interface Structural Analysis

Added On: 23/01/2020 14:52

Discipline Tags:

Surfaces Quantum Materials Hard condensed matter - electronic properties Physics Magnetism Materials Science interfaces and thin films

Technical Tags:

Diffraction Spectroscopy Low Energy Electron Diffraction (LEED) Angle Resolved Photoemission Spectroscopy (ARPES)