Switching 2D magnetic states via pressure tuning of layer stacking

Tiancheng Song; Zaiyao Fei; Matthew Yankowitz; Zhong Lin; Qianni Jiang; Kyle Hwangbo; Qi Zhang; Bosong Sun; Takashi Taniguchi; Kenji Watanabe; Michael A McGuire; David Graf; Ting Cao; Jiun-Haw Chu; David H Cobden; Cory R Dean; Di Xiao; Xiaodong Xu

doi:10.1038/s41563-019-0505-2

Switching 2D magnetic states via pressure tuning of layer stacking

Nat Mater. 2019 Dec;18(12):1298-1302. doi: 10.1038/s41563-019-0505-2. Epub 2019 Oct 28.

Authors

Tiancheng Song^#¹, Zaiyao Fei^#¹, Matthew Yankowitz², Zhong Lin¹, Qianni Jiang¹, Kyle Hwangbo¹, Qi Zhang¹, Bosong Sun¹, Takashi Taniguchi³, Kenji Watanabe³, Michael A McGuire⁴, David Graf⁵, Ting Cao^{6

7}, Jiun-Haw Chu¹, David H Cobden¹, Cory R Dean², Di Xiao⁸, Xiaodong Xu^{9

10}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Physics, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.
² Department of Physics, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.
³ National Institute for Materials Science, Tsukuba, Japan.
⁴ Materials Science and Technology Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN, USA.
⁵ National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Tallahassee, FL, USA.
⁶ Geballe Laboratory for Advanced Materials, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.
⁷ Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.
⁸ Department of Physics, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
⁹ Department of Physics, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA. xuxd@uw.edu.
¹⁰ Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA. xuxd@uw.edu.

^# Contributed equally.

PMID: 31659293
DOI: 10.1038/s41563-019-0505-2

Abstract

The physical properties of two-dimensional van der Waals crystals can be sensitive to interlayer coupling. For two-dimensional magnets^1-3, theory suggests that interlayer exchange coupling is strongly dependent on layer separation while the stacking arrangement can even change the sign of the interlayer magnetic exchange, thus drastically modifying the ground state^4-10. Here, we demonstrate pressure tuning of magnetic order in the two-dimensional magnet CrI₃. We probe the magnetic states using tunnelling^8,11-13 and scanning magnetic circular dichroism microscopy measurements². We find that interlayer magnetic coupling can be more than doubled by hydrostatic pressure. In bilayer CrI₃, pressure induces a transition from layered antiferromagnetic to ferromagnetic phase. In trilayer CrI₃, pressure can create coexisting domains of three phases, one ferromagnetic and two antiferromagnetic. The observed changes in magnetic order can be explained by changes in the stacking arrangement. Such coupling between stacking order and magnetism provides ample opportunities for designer magnetic phases and functionalities.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.