Pingfan Gu, Cong Wang, Dan Su, Zehao Dong, Qiuyuan Wang, Zheng Han, Kenji Watanabe, Takashi Taniguchi, Wei Ji, Young Sun & Yu Ye
Abstract:
A promising approach to the next generation of low-power, functional, and energy-efficient electronics relies on novel materials with coupled magnetic and electric degrees of freedom. In particular, stripy antiferromagnets often exhibit broken crystal and magnetic symmetries, which may bring about the magnetoelectric (ME) effect and enable the manipulation of intriguing properties and functionalities by electrical means. The demand for expanding the boundaries of data storage and processing technologies has led to the development of spintronics toward two-dimensional (2D) platforms. This work reports the ME effect in the 2D stripy antiferromagnetic insulator CrOCl down to a single layer. By measuring the tunneling resistance of CrOCl on the parameter space of temperature, magnetic field, and applied voltage, we verified the ME coupling down to the 2D limit and probed its mechanism. Utilizing the multi-stable states and ME coupling at magnetic phase transitions, we realize multi-state data storage in the tunneling devices. Our work not only advances the fundamental understanding of spin-charge coupling, but also demonstrates the great potential of 2D antiferromagnetic materials to deliver devices and circuits beyond the traditional binary operations.
Hanxiang Wu, Jianfeng Guo, Suonan Zhaxi, Hua Xu, Shuo Mi, Le Wang, Shanshan Chen, Rui Xu, Wei Ji, Fei Pang and Zhihai Cheng
Abstract:
As a unique 2D magnetic material with self-intercalated structure, Cr5Te8 exhibits many intriguing magnetic properties. While its ferromagnetism of Cr5Te8 has been previously reported, the research on its magnetic domain remains unexplored. Herein, we have successfully fabricated 2D Cr5Te8 nanosheets with controlled thickness and lateral size by chemical vapor deposition (CVD). Then magnetic property measurement system revealed Cr5Te8 nanosheets exhibiting intense out-of-plane ferromagnetism with a Curie temperature (TC) of 176 K. Significantly, we reported for the first time two magnetic domains: magnetic bubbles and thickness-dependent maze-like magnetic domains in our Cr5Te8 nanosheets by cryogenic magnetic force microscopy (MFM). The domain width of the maze-like magnetic domains increases rapidly with decreasing sample thickness, meanwhile domain contrast decreases. This indicates the dominate role of ferromagnetism shifts from dipolar interactions to magnetic anisotropy. Our research not only establishes a pathway for the controllable growth of 2D magnetic materials, but also points towards novel avenues for regulating magnetic phases and methodically tuning domain characteristics.
Abstract: Magnetic topological insulators (MTIs) have received considerable attention owing to the demonstration of various quantum phenomena, such as the quantum anomalous Hall effect and topological magnetoelectric effect. The intrinsic superlatticelike layered MTIs MnBi2Te4/(Bi2Te3)n have been extensively investigated mainly through transport measurements; however, a direct investigation of their superlattice-sensitive magnetic behaviors is relatively rare. In this paper, we report a microscopic real space investigation of the magnetic phase behaviors in MnBi4Te7 using cryogenic magnetic force microscopy. The intrinsic robust A type antiferromagnetic (AFM), surface spin-flip (SSF) + AFM, ferromagnetic (FM) + SSF + AFM, and forced FM phases are sequentially visualized via the increased external magnetic field, consistent with the magnetic behavior in the M-H curve. The temperature-dependent magnetic phase evolution behaviors are further investigated to obtain a complete H-T phase diagram of MnBi4Te7. Tentative local phase manipulation via the stray field of the magnetic tip is demonstrated by transforming the AFM into the FM phase in the surface layers of MnBi4Te7. Our study provides key real-space ingredients for understanding the complicated magnetic, electronic, and topological properties of such intrinsic MTIs and suggests new directions for manipulating spin textures and locally controlling their exotic properties.
Two-dimensional (2D) magnetic materials with magnetic anisotropy can form magnetic order at finitetemperature and monolayer limit. Their macroscopic magnetism is closely related to the number of layers andstacking forms, and their magnetic exchange coupling can be regulated by a variety of external fields. Thesenovel properties endow 2D magnetic materials with rich physical connotation and potential application value,thus having attracted extensive attention. In this paper, the recent advances in the experiments and theoreticalcalculations of 2D magnets are reviewed. Firstly, the common magnetic exchange mechanisms in several 2Dmagnetic materials are introduced. Then, the geometric and electronic structures of some 2D magnets and theirmagnetic coupling mechanisms are introduced in detail according to their components. Furthermore, we discusshow to regulate the electronic structure and magnetism of 2D magnets by external (field modulation andinterfacial effect) and internal (stacking and defect) methods. Then we discuss the potential applications ofthese materials in spintronics devices and magnetic storage. Finally, the encountered difficulties and challengesof 2D magnetic materials and the possible research directions in the future are summarized and prospected. DOI: 10.7498/aps.71.20220301
Kui Huang (黄逵), Zhenxian Li (李政贤), Deping Guo (郭的坪), Haifeng Yang (杨海峰), Yiwei Li (李一苇), Aiji Liang (梁爱基), Fan Wu (吴凡), Lixuan Xu (徐丽璇), Lexian Yang (杨乐仙), Wei Ji (季威), Yanfeng Guo (郭艳峰), Yulin Chen (陈宇林)* and Zhongkai Liu (柳仲楷)*
Abstract
As a van der Waals ferromagnet with high Curie temperature, Fe5–xGeTe2 has attracted tremendous interests recently. Here, using high-resolution angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES), we systematically investigated the electronic structure of Fe5–xGeTe2 crystals and its temperature evolution. Our ARPES measurement reveals two types of band structures from two different terminations with slight kz evolution. Interestingly, across the ferromagnetic transition, we observed the merging of two split bands above the Curie temperature, suggesting the band splitting due to the exchange interaction within the itinerant Stoner model. Our results provide important insights into the electronic and magnetic properties of Fe5–xGeTe2 and the understanding of magnetism in a two-dimensional ferromagnetic system.
