Magnetic properties of bilayer VI3: Role of trigonal crystal field and electric-field tuning

Abstract

The magnetic properties of two-dimensional VI3 bilayer are the focus of our first-principles analysis, highlighting the role of trigonal crystal-field effects and carried out in comparison with the CrI3 prototypical case, where the effects are absent. In VI3 bilayers, the empty a1g state - consistent with the observed trigonal distortion - is found to play a crucial role in both stabilizing the insulating state and in determining the inter-layer magnetic interaction. Indeed, an analysis based on maximally localized Wannier functions allows to evaluate the interlayer exchange interactions in two different VI3 stackings (labelled AB and AB'), to interpret the results in terms of virtual-hopping mechanism, and to highlight the strongest hopping channels underlying the magnetic interlayer coupling. Upon application of electric fields perpendicular to the slab, we find that the magnetic ground-state in the AB' stacking can be switched from antiferromagnetic to ferromagnetic, suggesting VI3 bilayer as an appealing candidate for electric-field-driven miniaturized spintronic devices.

8 pages, 5 figures, submitted for publication

References in corpus (4)

• Ferromagnetic van der Waals crystal VI3
• VI3 - a new layered ferromagnetic semiconductor
• Bulk properties of van-der-Waals hard ferromagnet VI3
• Ab initio methodology for magnetic exchange parameters: \\Generic four-state energy mapping on Heisenberg spin Hamiltonian

Cited by in corpus (9)

• Evidence for a single-layer van der Waals multiferroic
• Microscopic origin of magnetism in monolayer $3d$ transition metal dihalides
• Large orbital magnetic moment in VI3
• Strain tunability of perpendicular magnetic anisotropy in van der Waals ferromagnets VI3
• Ferromagnetic ferroelectricity due to the Kugel-Khomskii mechanism of the orbital ordering assisted by atomic Hund's second rule effects
• Polarization dependent photoemission as a probe of the magnetic ground state in the layered ferromagnet VI3
• Anisotropic hybridization probed by polarization dependent x-ray absorption spectroscopy in VI3 van der Waals Mott ferromagnet
• Goodenough-Kanamori-Anderson rules in 2D magnet: A chemical trend in MCl2 with M=V, Mn, and Ni
• Orbital mixing and strong Hund's coupling stabilize spin order in van der Waals ferromagnet CrI3