Stacking-Dependent Magnetism in Bilayer CrI 3

Nikhil Sivadas, Satoshi Okamoto, Xiaodong Xu, Craig J. Fennie, Di Xiao

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

515 Scopus citations

Abstract

We report the connection between the stacking order and magnetic properties of bilayer CrI 3 using first-principles calculations. We show that the stacking order defines the magnetic ground state. By changing the interlayer stacking order, one can tune the interlayer exchange interaction between antiferromagnetic and ferromagnetic. To measure the predicted stacking-dependent magnetism, we propose using linear magnetoelectric effect. Our results not only gives a possible explanation for the observed antiferromagnetism in bilayer CrI 3 but also have direct implications in heterostructures made of two-dimensional magnets.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)7658-7664
Number of pages7
JournalNano Letters
Volume18
Issue number12
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 12 2018

Funding

N.S. and C.J.F. are supported by NSF through the Platform for the Accelerated Realization, Analysis, and Discovery of Interface Materials (PARADIM) (DMR-1539918), S.O. is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences, Materials Sciences and Engineering Division, D.X. and X.X. acknowledge the support from DOE BES Pro-QM EFRC (DE-SC0019443). The authors thank Kin Fai Mak, Jie Shan, David Muller, and Darrell Schlom for interesting discussions and insightful comments. N.S. thanks Valentino R. Cooper for sharing the input files for bulk CrI3. N.S. would also like to thank Gerhard H. Olsen, Betül Pamuk, Matthew W. Daniels, Hena Das and Jisha V. M for various discussions and help with visualization. N.S. thanks the Cornell University Center for Advanced Computing for the computing time.

FundersFunder number
DOE BES Pro-QM EFRCDE-SC0019443
National Science FoundationDMR-1539918
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Science
Basic Energy Sciences
Division of Materials Sciences and Engineering

    Keywords

    • 2D magnets
    • CrI
    • Moiré superlattices
    • beyond graphene
    • stacking order
    • super-superexchange

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