English

Electrically tunable moir\'e magnetism in twisted double bilayers of chromium triiodide

Materials Science 2024-08-05 v3

Abstract

Moir\'e superlattices in van der Waals structures can be used to control the electronic properties of the material and lead to emergent correlated and topological phenomena. Its first demonstration in van der Waals magnets exhibited noncollinear states and domain structures with, however, limited manipulation. Here we report electrically tunable moir\'e magnetism in twisted double bilayers - that is, a bilayer plus a bilayer with a twist angle between them - of layered antiferromagnet CrI3. Using magneto-optical Kerr effect microscopy, we observe the coexistence of antiferromagnetic and ferromagnetic order with nonzero net magnetization - a hallmark of moir\'e magnetism. Such magnetic state extends over a wide range of twist angles (with transitions at around 0{\deg} and above 20{\deg}) and exhibits a nonmonotonic temperature dependence. We further demonstrate voltage-assisted magnetic switching. The observed nontrivial magnetic states and unprecedented control by twist angle, temperature and electrical gating are supported by the simulated phase diagram of the moir\'e magnetism.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2204.03837,
  title  = {Electrically tunable moir\'e magnetism in twisted double bilayers of chromium triiodide},
  author = {Guanghui Cheng and Mohammad Mushfiqur Rahman and Andres Llacsahuanga Allcca and Avinash Rustagi and Xingtao Liu and Lina Liu and Lei Fu and Yanglin Zhu and Zhiqiang Mao and Kenji Watanabe and Takashi Taniguchi and Pramey Upadhyaya and Yong P. Chen},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2204.03837},
  year   = {2024}
}