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Emergence of electric-field-tunable interfacial ferromagnetism in 2D antiferromagnet heterostructures

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  • Guanghui Cheng, Tohoku University, Purdue University, University of Science and Technology of China
  • ,
  • Mohammad Mushfiqur Rahman, Purdue University
  • ,
  • Zhiping He, University of Science and Technology of China
  • ,
  • Andres Llacsahuanga Allcca, Purdue University, Quantum Science Center
  • ,
  • Avinash Rustagi, Purdue University
  • ,
  • Kirstine Aggerbeck Stampe
  • Yanglin Zhu, Pennsylvania State University
  • ,
  • Shaohua Yan, Renmin University of China
  • ,
  • Shangjie Tian, Renmin University of China
  • ,
  • Zhiqiang Mao, Pennsylvania State University
  • ,
  • Hechang Lei, Renmin University of China
  • ,
  • Kenji Watanabe, National Institute for Materials Science Tsukuba
  • ,
  • Takashi Taniguchi, National Institute for Materials Science Tsukuba
  • ,
  • Pramey Upadhyaya, Purdue University, Quantum Science Center
  • ,
  • Yong P. Chen

Van der Waals (vdW) magnet heterostructures have emerged as new platforms to explore exotic magnetic orders and quantum phenomena. Here, we study heterostructures of layered antiferromagnets, CrI3 and CrCl3, with perpendicular and in-plane magnetic anisotropy, respectively. Using magneto-optical Kerr effect microscopy, we demonstrate out-of-plane magnetic order in the CrCl3 layer proximal to CrI3, with ferromagnetic interfacial coupling between the two. Such an interlayer exchange field leads to higher critical temperature than that of either CrI3 or CrCl3 alone. We further demonstrate significant electric-field control of the coercivity, attributed to the naturally broken structural inversion symmetry of the heterostructure allowing unprecedented direct coupling between electric field and interfacial magnetism. These findings illustrate the opportunity to explore exotic magnetic phases and engineer spintronic devices in vdW heterostructures.

Original languageEnglish
Article number7348
JournalNature Communications
Volume13
ISSN2041-1723
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Dec 2022

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