Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 15, 2025

Visualizing Uniaxial-strain Manipulation of Antiferromagnetic Domains in Fe1+YTe Using a Spin-polarized Scanning Tunneling Microscope
Published on: March 24, 2019
Probing ultraweak in-plane magnetic anisotropy within a two-dimensional layered antiferromagnet
Yijie Fan1,2, Yihong Xu1,2, Renji Bian3
1National Key Laboratory of Advanced Micro and Nano Manufacture Technology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China.
None:
Magnetic anisotropy plays a crucial role in determining the critical behavior and phase transitions in two-dimensional magnetic systems. It is also required for the design of thin-film spintronic devices. Despite its significance, sensing extremely weak anisotropy has proven challenging in van der Waals antiferromagnetic/ferrimagnetic materials. Here, we first employ simulations of micromagnetic energy function in few-layer easy-plane antiferromagnetic systems with a weak additional uniaxial anisotropy and unveil an intriguing even-odd effect closely linked to low-field spin-flop behaviors. We further perform tunneling magneto-conductance measurements on a model 2D antiferromagnetic insulator, CrCl3, exhibiting near-ideal easy-plane anisotropy. The magnetic field-controlled tunneling current at low temperature aligns well with simulated in-plane anisotropic spin-configuration, providing direct experimental evidence for detecting magnetic anisotropy field around 1 mT. Our work creates opportunities for finely characterizing magnetic structures and behaviors in 2D antiferromagnetic/ferrimagnetic systems, with potential applications in spintronics such as data storage and magnetic sensing.
Related Concept Videos
Diamagnetism
Diamagnetism was discovered by Anton Brugmans in 1778 when he observed that bismuth gets repelled by magnetic fields, thus theorizing that diamagnets get repelled by magnets....
Paramagnetism
Ferromagnetism
Magnetostatic Boundary Conditions
Atomic Nuclei: Nuclear Relaxation Processes
Atomic Nuclei: Nuclear Magnetic Moment

