Bilayer CrI3 Ground State Revealed by Layer-sensitive Magnetic Sensor

ORAL

Abstract


The recent identification of 2D magnetic CrI3 adds a new building block to the family of 2D materials. While its monolayer was proven to be an intrinsic ferromagnetic insulator, its bilayer intriguingly exhibits vanishing magnetization. This implies a layered-antiferromagnetic spin arrangement, i.e. individual monolayers are ferromagnetic while the interlayer coupling is antiferromagnetic. Therefore, a probe to resolve the magnetization of individual monolayers is needed to reveal the bilayer CrI3 ground state. Here we report magneto-optical spectroscopy studies on heterostructures of monolayer WSe2 and bilayer CrI3. Using the WSe2 valley exciton photoluminescence, we achieve a layer-specific probe of the magnetization via proximity coupling of the WSe2 to the CrI3. We then employ magnetic circular dichroism to correlate with the total magnetization state of bilayer. Our results reveal that bilayer CrI3 indeed has a layered antiferromagnetic configuration. We also reveal a spatially dependent coercivity phenomenon and discuss possible mechanisms.

–

Presenters

  • Ding Zhong

    University of Washington

Authors

  • Ding Zhong

    University of Washington

  • Kyle Seyler

    University of Washington

  • Xiayu Linpeng

    University of Washington

  • Nathan Wilson

    University of Washington, Department of Physics, University of Washington

  • Adrian Lonescu

    University of Washington

  • Ilham Wilson

    University of Washington

  • Michael McGuire

    Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Materials Science and Technology Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Lab

  • Di Xiao

    Carnegie Mellon University, Physics department, Carnegie Mellon University, Department of Physics, Carnegie Mellon University, Carnegie Mellon Univ

  • Wang Yao

    Department of Physics, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong University, University of Hong Kong, The University of Hong Kong, Department of Physics and Center of Theoretical and Computational Physics, University of Hong Kong

  • Kai-Mei Fu

    Department of Physics and Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Washington, University of Washington

  • Xiaodong Xu

    University of Washington, Univ of Washington, Physics, Univ of Washington, Department of Physics, University of Washington, Physics, University of Washington, Physics, and Materials Science and Engineering, Univ of Washington, Department of Physics, University of Washington - Seattle