A Three-Stage Magnetic Phase Transition Revealed in Ultrahigh-Quality van der Waals Bulk Magnet CrSBr

ORAL

Abstract

van der Waals (vdW) magnets are receiving ever-growing attention nowadays due to their significance in both fundamental research on low-dimensional magnetism and potential applications in spintronic devices. High crystalline quality of vdW magnets is the key to maintaining intrinsic magnetic and electronic properties, especially when exfoliated down to the two-dimensional (2D) limit. Here, ultrahigh-quality air-stable vdW CrSBr crystals are synthesized using the direct solid-vapor synthesis method. The high single crystallinity and spatial homogeneity have been thoroughly evidenced at length scales from sub-mm to atomic resolution by X-ray diffraction, second harmonic generation, and scanning transmission electron microscopy. More importantly, specific heat measurements of ultrahigh quality CrSBr crystals show three thermodynamic anomalies at 185K, 156K and 132K, revealing a stage-by-stage development of the magnetic order upon cooling, which is also corroborated with the magnetization and transport results. Our ultrahigh-quality CrSBr can further be exfoliated down to monolayers and bilayers easily, providing the building blocks of heterostructures for spintronic and magneto-optoelectronic applications.

*Work conducted at the University of Texas at Dallas was supported by the U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research Grant No. FA9550-19-1-0037 and NSF- DMREF- 1921581Work conducted at the Univeristy of Michigan was supported by NSF CAREER grant no. DMR-174774, AFOSR YIP grant no. FA9550-21-1-0065, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, ARO grant no. W911NF-22-1-0056 and the W.M. Keck Foundation.

Publication: Liu, W., Guo, X., Schwartz, J., Xie, H., Dhale, N. U., Sung, S. H., ... & Lv, B. A Three-Stage Magnetic Phase Transition Revealed in Ultrahigh-Quality van der Waals Bulk Magnet CrSBr. ACS nano 2022. doi: 10.1021/acsnano.2c02896.

Presenters

  • Wenhao Liu

    • University of Texas at Dallas

Authors

  • Wenhao Liu

    • University of Texas at Dallas
  • Xiaoyu Guo

    • University of Michigan
  • Jonathan Schwartz

    • University of Michigan
  • Hongchao Xie

    • University of Michigan
  • Nikhil Dhale

    • The University of Texas at Dallas
  • Aswin kondusamy

    • The University of Texas at Dallas
  • Xiqu Wang

    • University of Houston
  • Haonan Zhao

    • University of Michigan
  • Suk Hyun Sung

    • University of Michigan
  • Diana Berman

    • University of North Texas
  • Robert Hovden

    • University of Michigan
  • Liuyan Zhao

    • University of Michigan
  • Bing Lv

    • University of Texas at Dallas