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arXiv · 2604.07117

Magnetic order and excitations in the magnetically intercalated van der Waals material Cr$_{\frac{1}{4}}$NbSe$_2$

Abstract

Cr$_{\frac{1}{4}}$NbSe$_2$ is a triangular lattice magnet in which magnetic Cr$^{3+}$ ions are intercalated to form triangular lattices between NbSe$_2$ van der Waals layers stacked along the c axis. By unpolarized and polarized neutron scattering experiments, we have revealed that the magnetic ground state of this system is a 120$^{\circ}$-type antiferromagnetic order characterized by the magnetic propagation wave vector of $q=(\frac{1}{3}, \frac{1}{3}, 0)$. We also performed inelastic neutron scattering measurements using co-aligned single crystals, and determined dispersion relations of magnetic excitations at low temperatures. Comparing the observed spectra with calculations based on the linear spin-wave theory, we revealed that the out-of-plane ferromagnetic interaction is fairly strong as compared to the in-plane nearest neighbor antiferromagnetic interaction. Although the crystal structure of this system is composed of two-dimensional van der Waals layers, the magnetic order has a three dimensional character, which would be attributed to long-range magnetic interactions mediated by conduction electrons.

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Ryota Yamaoka, Hiraku Saito, Yuki Settai, Xiang Huang, Daisuke Nishio-Hamane, Shingo Takahashi, Daichi Ueta, Tatsuro Oda, Hodaka Kikuchi, Tao Hong, Masaki Nakano, Shinichiro Seki, Taro Nakajima. 2026-04-08. Magnetic order and excitations in the magnetically intercalated van der Waals material Cr$_{\frac{1}{4}}$NbSe$_2$. https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.07117

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