Magnetic Properties of Proton Irradiated van der Waals Magnets

The advent of two-dimensional (2D) van der Waals (vdWs) magnetic crystals such as ABTe₃ (A = Fe, Cr, Mn; and B = Si, Ge) creates new possibilities in exploring their magnetic properties as they are easily exfoliable. They retain their magnetic nature, chemical stability and structural integrity down to monolayers and, are readily tuned by various kinds of external stimuli, and opened enormous opportunities in controlling their magnetic states through coupling with external perturbations. Irradiation with protons has been shown to be an effective versatile method in inducing and manipulating the magnetic and electronic properties. In this work, we present and discuss the magnetic properties of proton irradiated vdWs magnets such MnSiTe3 and CrSiTe3 as a function of proton fluence (10^15 to 10^18/cm^2). Our findings show that it is possible to tune the saturation magnetization by about 53% in both these crystals. As evidenced from complementary measurements, spin-lattice coupling is strongly modified upon proton irradiation and that could cause the observed changes in the magnetic properties.