Probing the atomic-scale ferromagnetism in van der Waals magnet CrSiTe3

DOI: 10.1063/5.0069885

Authors: Wei Niu (Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications) , Xiaoqian Zhang (Southern University of Science and Technology; Nanjing University) , Wei Wang (Nanjing Tech University) , Jiabao Sun (Royal Holloway, University of London) , Yongbing Xu (Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications; Nanjing University) , Liang He (Nanjing University) , Wenqing Liu (Royal Holloway, University of London) , Yong Pu (Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications)
Co-authored by industrial partner: No

Type: Journal Paper
Journal: Applied Physics Letters , VOL 119

State: Published (Approved)
Published: October 2021
Diamond Proposal Number(s): 16538

Abstract: As an emerging class of two-dimensional (2D) materials, van der Waals (vdW) magnets have attracted a lot of research attention since they can give access to fundamental physics and potential spintronic device applications. Among these 2D vdW magnets, CrSiTe3, as an intrinsic ferromagnetic semiconductor, exhibits great potentials in low-dimensional spintronics. Of particular interest in this 2D vdW magnet is the electronic and magnetic properties at the atomic-scale, which has yet been fully explored so far. Here, combing angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, bulk magnetic measurements, and synchrotron-based x-ray techniques, an unambiguous picture of the electronic and magnetic states of CrSiTe3 is presented. Hybridization of Cr-3d and Te-5p orbitals and the semiconducting behavior are confirmed by the band structure detection. Intrinsic ferromagnetism with a magnetic anisotropy constant of 1.56 × 105 erg/cm3 is attributed to the superexchange interaction of the Cr3+ ions. In addition, temperature-dependent spin and orbital moments are determined, and a fitted critical exponent of 0.169 implies that CrSiTe3 is in good agreement with the 2D Ising model. More remarkably, unquenched orbital moments are experimentally evidenced, bringing CrSiTe3 with orbital-dependent intriguing effects and great potentials toward the spintronic devices.

Journal Keywords: Superexchange interactions; 2D materials; X-ray magnetic circular dichroism spectroscopy; Spintronic devices; X-ray absorption spectroscopy; Angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy; Ferromagnetism; Magnetic anisotropy; Electronic band structure

Diamond Keywords: Spintronics; Ferromagnetism

Subject Areas: Materials, Physics


Instruments: I10-Beamline for Advanced Dichroism

Added On: 28/10/2021 08:29

Discipline Tags:

Quantum Materials Physics Hard condensed matter - structures Electronics Magnetism Materials Science

Technical Tags:

Spectroscopy Circular Dichroism (CD) X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy (XAS) X-ray Magnetic Circular Dichroism (XMCD)