Oral : Spectroscopic Study of the Electronic Structure of Two-dimensional Magnetic Materials

The recent discovery of ferromagnetism in 2D van der Waals chromium trihalides CrX₃ (X=Cl,Br and I) down to the monolayer has gained research attraction because of their interesting electronic and magnetic properties. The magnetic properties of CrX₃ can be manipulated by applying perturbations such as external magnetic field, strain, and pressure. This makes CrX₃ prime candidates for spintronics and magneto-resistive memory applications. It also highlights the importance of determining the key energy scales properly to understand the physics of CrX₃ and build a more reliable base Hamiltonian. We have measured Cr L-edge soft X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) and resonant inelastic X-ray scattering (RIXS) spectroscopy for all CrX₃ in order to understand their electronic structure. Through a systematic study, with the use of atomic multiplet simulations, we show that our approach has yielded a set of more reliably determined energy scale parameters. Ultimately, our goal is to achieve a detailed understanding of the electronic structure of CrX₃ and determine how it is related to magnetic order and excitations in these fascinating systems.