Persistence of Magnetism in Atomically Thin MnPS₃ Crystals

The magnetic state of atomically thin semiconducting layered antiferromagnets such as CrI₃ and CrCl₃ can be probed by forming tunnel barriers and measuring their resistance as a function of magnetic field (H) and temperature (T). This is possible because the spins within each individual layer are ferromagnetically aligned and the tunneling magnetoresistance depends on the relative orientation of the magnetization in adjacent layers. The situation is different for systems that are antiferromagnetic within the layers in which case it is unclear whether magnetoresistance measurements can provide information about the magnetic state. Here, we address this issue by investigating tunnel transport through atomically thin crystals of MnPS₃, a van der Waals semiconductor that in the bulk exhibits easy-axis antiferromagnetic order within the layers. For thick multilayers below T ∼ 78 K, a T-dependent magnetoresistance sets in at μ₀H ∼ 5 T and is found to track the boundary between the antiferromagnetic and the spin-flop phases known from bulk measurements. We show that the magnetoresistance persists as thickness is reduced with nearly unchanged characteristic temperature and magnetic field scales, albeit with a different dependence on H, indicating the persistence of magnetism in the ultimate limit of individual monolayers.