Orbital mixing as key ingredient for magnetic order in a van der Waals ferromagnet

Fuente: arXiv
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Autori principali: De Vita, Alessandro, Stavrić, Srdjan, Sant, Roberto, Brookes, Nicholas B., Vobornik, Ivana, Panaccione, Giancarlo, Picozzi, Silvia, Wolf, Martin, Rettig, Laurenz, Ernstorfer, Ralph, Pincelli, Tommaso
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2025
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author De Vita, Alessandro
Stavrić, Srdjan
Sant, Roberto
Brookes, Nicholas B.
Vobornik, Ivana
Panaccione, Giancarlo
Picozzi, Silvia
Wolf, Martin
Rettig, Laurenz
Ernstorfer, Ralph
Pincelli, Tommaso
author_facet De Vita, Alessandro
Stavrić, Srdjan
Sant, Roberto
Brookes, Nicholas B.
Vobornik, Ivana
Panaccione, Giancarlo
Picozzi, Silvia
Wolf, Martin
Rettig, Laurenz
Ernstorfer, Ralph
Pincelli, Tommaso
contents Recent years have seen a vast increase in research into van der Waals magnetic materials. In many of these systems, magnetism is introduced via light 3\textit{d}-transition metal elements, combined with chalcogenides or halogens. Despite the high technological promise in the field of spintronics, the connection between the \textit{d}-orbital configuration and the occurrence of low-dimensional magnetic order is currently unclear. Here we address the prototypical two-dimensional ferromagnet CrI\textsubscript{3}, via complementary spectroscopies and density functional theory calculations. We reveal the electronic structure and orbital character of bulk CrI\textsubscript{3} in the paramagnetic and ferromagnetic phases, describing the couplings underpinning its energy diagram, and providing a robust experimental demonstration that the mechanism of stabilization of ferromagnetism is attributable to orbital mixing between I \textit{p} and Cr \textit{e\textsubscript{g}} states. These findings reveal the microscopic connection between orbital and spin degrees of freedom, providing fundamental insights into the behavior of low-dimensional magnetic materials.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2507_04144
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Orbital mixing as key ingredient for magnetic order in a van der Waals ferromagnet
De Vita, Alessandro
Stavrić, Srdjan
Sant, Roberto
Brookes, Nicholas B.
Vobornik, Ivana
Panaccione, Giancarlo
Picozzi, Silvia
Wolf, Martin
Rettig, Laurenz
Ernstorfer, Ralph
Pincelli, Tommaso
Materials Science
Strongly Correlated Electrons
Recent years have seen a vast increase in research into van der Waals magnetic materials. In many of these systems, magnetism is introduced via light 3\textit{d}-transition metal elements, combined with chalcogenides or halogens. Despite the high technological promise in the field of spintronics, the connection between the \textit{d}-orbital configuration and the occurrence of low-dimensional magnetic order is currently unclear. Here we address the prototypical two-dimensional ferromagnet CrI\textsubscript{3}, via complementary spectroscopies and density functional theory calculations. We reveal the electronic structure and orbital character of bulk CrI\textsubscript{3} in the paramagnetic and ferromagnetic phases, describing the couplings underpinning its energy diagram, and providing a robust experimental demonstration that the mechanism of stabilization of ferromagnetism is attributable to orbital mixing between I \textit{p} and Cr \textit{e\textsubscript{g}} states. These findings reveal the microscopic connection between orbital and spin degrees of freedom, providing fundamental insights into the behavior of low-dimensional magnetic materials.
title Orbital mixing as key ingredient for magnetic order in a van der Waals ferromagnet
topic Materials Science
Strongly Correlated Electrons
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.04144