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Competing magnetic states in silicene and germanene 2D ferromagnets

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Abstract

Two-dimension (2D) magnets have recently developed into a class of stoichiometric materials with prospective applications in ultra-compact spintronics and quantum computing. Their functionality is particularly rich when different magnetic orders are competing in the same material. Metalloxenes REX2 (RE = Eu, Gd; X = Si, Ge), silicene or germanene — heavy counterparts of graphene — coupled with a layer of rare-earth metals, evolve from three-dimension (3D) antiferromagnets in multilayer structures to 2D ferromagnets in a few monolayers. This evolution, however, does not lead to fully saturated 2D ferromagnetism, pointing at a possibility of coexisting/competing magnetic states. Here, REX2 magnetism is explored with element-selective X-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD). The measurements are carried out for GdSi2, EuSi2, GdGe2, and EuGe2 of different thicknesses down to 1 monolayer employing K absorption edges of Si and Ge as well as M and L edges of the rare-earths. They access the magnetic state in REX2 and determine the seat of magnetism, orbital, and spin contributions to the magnetic moment. High-field measurements probe remnants of the bulk antiferromagnetism in 2D REX2. The results provide a new platform for studies of complex magnetic structures in 2D materials.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by National Research Center (NRC) “Kurchatov Institute” (No. 1359, characterization) and the Russian Science Foundation (No. 19-19-00009 (synthesis) and No. 20-79-10028 (magnetization measurements)). D. V. A. also acknowledges support from the President’s scholarship (SP 1398.2019.5). The measurements have been carried out using equipment of the resource centers of electrophysical and electron microscopy techniques in NRC “Kurchatov Institute”.

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  1. Mikhail S. Platunov

    Present address: Present address: Kirensky Institute of Physics, Federal Research Center KSC SB RAS, Akademgorodok 50, bld. 38, 660036, Krasnoyarsk, Russia

Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Research Center “Kurchatov Institute”, Kurchatov Sq. 1, Moscow, 123182, Russia

    Dmitry V. Averyanov, Ivan S. Sokolov, Oleg E. Parfenov, Alexander N. Taldenkov, Igor A. Karateev, Andrey M. Tokmachev & Vyacheslav G. Storchak

  2. ESRF-The European Synchrotron, CS 40220, 38043, Grenoble Cedex 9, France

    Mikhail S. Platunov, Fabrice Wilhelm & Andrei Rogalev

  3. ALBA Synchrotron Light Source, Cerdanyola del Vallès, 08290, Barcelona, Spain

    Pierluigi Gargiani & Manuel Valvidares

  4. L’Orme des Merisiers, Synchrotron SOLEIL, Gyf-sur-Yvette, 91192, France

    Nicolas Jaouen

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  1. Dmitry V. Averyanov
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Averyanov, D.V., Sokolov, I.S., Platunov, M.S. et al. Competing magnetic states in silicene and germanene 2D ferromagnets. Nano Res. 13, 3396–3402 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-020-3027-y

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