Tunable symmetry breaking in a hexagonal-stacked moir\'e magnet

Abstract

Symmetry plays a central role in defining magnetic phases, making tunable symmetry breaking across magnetic transitions highly desirable for discovering non-trivial magnetism. Magnetic moir\'e superlattices, formed by twisting two-dimensional (2D) magnetic crystals, have been theoretically proposed and experimentally explored as platforms for unconventional magnetic states. However, despite recent advances, tuning symmetry breaking in moir\'e magnetism remains limited, as twisted 2D magnets, such as rhombohedral (R)-stacked twisted CrI_3, largely inherit the magnetic properties and symmetries of their constituent layers. Here, in hexagonal-stacked twisted double bilayer (H-tDB) CrI_3, we demonstrate clear symmetry evolution as the twist angle increases from 180^{\circ} to 190^{\circ}. While the net magnetization remains zero across this twist angle range, the magnetic phase breaks only the three-fold rotational symmetry at 180^{\circ}, but it breaks all of the rotational, mirror, and time-reversal symmetries at intermediate twist angles between 181^{\circ} and 185^{\circ}, and all broken symmetries are recovered at 190^{\circ}. These pronounced symmetry breakings at intermediate twist angles are accompanied by metamagnetic behaviors, evidenced by symmetric double hysteresis loops around zero magnetic field. Together, these results reveal that H-tDB CrI_3 at intermediate twist angles host a distinct moir\'e magnetic phase, featuring periodic in-plane spin textures with broken rotational, mirror, and time-reversal symmetries, which is markedly different from the out-of-plane layered antiferromagnetism in bilayer CrI_3 and the predominantly out-of-plane moir\'e magnetism in R-tDB CrI_3. Our work establishes H-stacked CrI_3 moir\'e magnets as a versatile platform for engineering magnetic properties, including and likely beyond complex spin textures.