Discovery of Intrinsic Two-dimensional Ferromagnetism in CrTe₂ Thin films

Two-dimensional (2D) layered ferromagnetic (FM) materials have attracted much interest recently since the discovery of intrinsic 2D ferromagnetism in atomically thin layers. Due to the reduced dimensionality, 2D magnets usually exhibit weak magnetic ordering compared to conventional bulk magnets. In this work, we report robust 2D ferromagnetism in chromium ditelluride (CrTe₂) nanofilms whose electronic structure and magnetic properties are clearly resolved by angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES), superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) and X-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD). The robust ferromagnetism has been experimentally evidenced, and persists up to 250 K. In addition, the electron band structure of the ferromagnetic ground state was clearly resolved by in-situ ARPES. These experimental evidences establish CrTe₂ nanofilms as an outstanding 2D vdW magnet for spintronics applications.