Atomic-scale visualization of multiferroicity in monolayer NiI${}_2$

Abstract

Progress in layered van der Waals materials has resulted in the discovery of ferromagnetic and ferroelectric materials down to the monolayer limit. Recently, evidence of the first purely two-dimensional multiferroic material was reported in monolayer NiI${}_2$. However, probing multiferroicity with scattering-based and optical bulk techniques is challenging on 2D materials, and experiments on the atomic scale are needed to fully characterize the multiferroic order at the monolayer limit. Here, we use scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) supported by theoretical calculations based on density functional theory (DFT) to probe and characterize the multiferroic order in monolayer NiI${}_2$. We demonstrate that the type-II multiferroic order displayed by NiI${}_2$, arising from the combination of a magnetic spin spiral order and a strong spin-orbit coupling, allows probing the multiferroic order in the STM experiments. Moreover, we directly probe the magnetoelectric coupling of NiI${}_2$ by external electric field manipulation of the multiferroic domains. Our findings establish a novel point of view to analyse magnetoelectric effects at the microscopic level, paving the way towards engineering new multiferroic orders in van der Waals materials and their heterostructures.

References in corpus (5)

• Ising-Type Magnetic Ordering in Atomically Thin FePS3
• Direct photoluminescence probing of ferromagnetism in monolayer two-dimensional CrBr3
• Possible persistence of multiferroic order down to bilayer limit of van der Waals material NiI${}_2$
• Microscopic origin of Magnetic Ferroelectrics in Nonlinear Multiferroics
• Type II multiferroic order in two-dimensional transition metal halides from first principles spin-spiral calculations

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