Layered transition-metal dichalcogenides are proposed as building blocks for van der Waals (vdW) heterostructures due to their graphene-like two dimensional structure. For this purpose, a magnetic semiconductor could represent an invaluable component for various spintronics and topotronics devices. Here, we combine different local magnetic probe spectroscopies with angle-resolved photoemission and density-functional theory calculations to show that 2H-MoTe2 is on the verge of becoming magnetic. Our results present clear evidence that the magnetism can be "switched on" by a hydrogen-like impurity. We also show that this magnetic state survives up to the free surface region, demonstrating the material's potential applicability as a magnetic component for thin-film heterostructures.
@article{arxiv.2206.03051,
title = {Hydrogen-impurity induced unconventional magnetism in semiconducting molybdenum ditelluride},
author = {Jonas A. Krieger and Daniel Tay and Igor P. Rusinov and Sourabh Barua and Pabitra K. Biswas and Lukas Korosec and Thomas Prokscha and Thorsten Schmitt and Niels B. M. Schröter and Tian Shang and Toni Shiroka and Andreas Suter and Geetha Balakrishnan and Evgueni V. Chulkov and Vladimir N. Strocov and Zaher Salman},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2206.03051},
year = {2023}
}