Accessing new magnetic regimes by tuning the ligand spin-orbit coupling in van der Waals magnets

Van der Waals (VdW) materials have opened new directions in the study of low dimensional magnetism. A largely unexplored arena is the intrinsic tuning of VdW magnets toward new ground states. Chromium trihalides provided the first such example with a change of interlayer magnetic coupling emerging upon exfoliation. Here, we take a different approach to engineer previously unknown ground states, not by exfoliation, but by tuning the spin-orbit coupling (SOC) of the nonmagnetic ligand atoms (Cl, Br, I). We synthesize a three-halide series, CrCl3-x-yBrxIy, and map their magnetic properties as a function of Cl, Br, and I content. The resulting triangular phase diagrams unveil a frustrated regime near CrCl3. First-principles calculations confirm that the frustration is driven by a competition between the chromium and halide SOCs. Furthermore, we reveal a field-induced change of interlayer coupling in the bulk of CrCl3-x-yBrxIy crystals at the same field as in the exfoliation experiments.

Keywords

FERROMAGNETISM, ANTIFERROMAGNETISM, CRYSTAL

DOI

10.1126/sciadv.abb9379

Citation

Tartaglia, T A, Tang, J N, Lado, J L, Bahrami, F, Abramchuk, M, McCandless, G T, Doyle, M C, Burch, K S, Ran, Y, Chan, J Y & Tafti, F 2020, ' Accessing new magnetic regimes by tuning the ligand spin-orbit coupling in van der Waals magnets ', Science Advances, vol. 6, no. 30, abb9379 . https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abb9379

Permanent link to this item

https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:aalto-202008285246

Collections

[article-cris] Perustieteiden korkeakoulu / SCI

Show all metadata

Accessing new magnetic regimes by tuning the ligand spin-orbit coupling in van der Waals magnets

Access rights

URL

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Authors

Date

Department

Major/Subject

Mcode

Degree programme

Language

Pages

Series

Abstract

Description

Keywords

Other note

DOI

Citation

Permanent link to this item

Collections