arXiv · 1812.05284
Bulk properties of van-der-Waals hard ferromagnet VI3
Abstract
We present comprehensive measurements of the structural, magnetic and electronic properties of layered van-der-Waals ferromagnet VI$_3$ down to low temperatures. Despite belonging to a well studied family of transition metal trihalides, this material has received very little attention. We outline, from high-resolution powder x-ray diffraction measurements, a corrected room-temperature crystal structure to that previously proposed and uncover a structural transition at 79 K, also seen in the heat capacity. Magnetization measurements confirm VI$_3$ to be a hard ferromagnet (9.1 kOe coercive field at 2 K) with a high degree of anisotropy, and the pressure dependence of the magnetic properties provide evidence for the two-dimensional nature of the magnetic order. Optical and electrical transport measurements show this material to be an insulator with an optical band gap of 0.67 eV - the previous theoretical predictions of d-band metallicity then lead us to believe VI$_3$ to be a correlated Mott insulator. Our latest band structure calculations support this picture and show good agreement with the experimental data. We suggest VI$_3$ to host great potential in the thriving field of low-dimensional magnetism and functional materials, together with opportunities to study and make use of low-dimensional Mott physics.
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Suhan Son, Matthew J. Coak, Nahyun Lee, Jonghyeon Kim, Tae Yun Kim, Hayrullo Hamidov, Hwanbeom Cho, Cheng Liu, David M. Jarvis, Philip A. C. Brown, Jae Hoon Kim, Cheol-Hwan Park, Daniel I. Khomskii, Siddharth S. Saxena, Je-Geun Park. 2019-01-21. Bulk properties of van-der-Waals hard ferromagnet VI3. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevb.99.041402
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