Spin-Orbit-Induced Ising Ferromagnetism at a van der Waals Interface

Magnetocrystalline anisotropy, a key ingredient for establishing long-range order in a magnetic material down to the two-dimensional (2D) limit, is generally associated with spin-orbit interaction (SOI) involving a finite orbital angular momentum. Here we report strong out-of-plane magnetic anisotropy without orbital angular momentum, emerging at the interface between two different van der Waals (vdW) materials, an archetypal metallic vdW material NbSe₂ possessing Zeeman-type SOI and an isotropic vdW ferromagnet V₅Se₈. We found that the Zeeman SOI in NbSe₂ induces robust out-of-plane magnetic anisotropy in V₅Se₈ down to the 2D limit with a more than 2-fold enhancement of the transition temperature. We propose a simple model that takes into account the energy gain in NbSe₂ in contact with a ferromagnet, which naturally explains our observations. Our results demonstrate a conceptually new magnetic proximity effect at the vdW interface, expanding the horizons of emergent phenomena achievable in vdW heterostructures.