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Title: Ligand-field helical luminescence in a 2D ferromagnetic insulator

Journal Article · · Nature Physics
 [1];  [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [1];  [2];  [3]; ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [5]; ORCiD logo [6];  [4];  [2]; ORCiD logo [7]
  1. Univ. of Washington, Seattle, WA (United States). Dept. of Physics
  2. Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States). Dept. of Physics
  3. Washington Univ., St. Louis, MO (United States). Dept. of Physics
  4. Carnegie Mellon Univ., Pittsburgh, PA (United States). Dept. of Physics
  5. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Materials Science & Technology Division
  6. Univ. of Hong Kong (China). Dept. of Physics and Center of Theoretical and Computational Physics
  7. Univ. of Washington, Seattle, WA (United States). Dept. of Physics, and Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering

Bulk chromium tri-iodide (CrI3) has long been known as a layered van der Waals ferromagnet. However, its monolayer form was only recently isolated and confirmed to be a truly two-dimensional (2D) ferromagnet, providing a new platform for investigating light–matter interactions and magneto-optical phenomena in the atomically thin limit. Here in this paper, we report spontaneous circularly polarized photoluminescence in monolayer CrI3 under linearly polarized excitation, with helicity determined by the monolayer magnetization direction. In contrast, the bilayer CrI3 photoluminescence exhibits vanishing circular polarization, supporting the recently uncovered anomalous antiferromagnetic interlayer coupling in CrI3 bilayers. Distinct from the Wannier–Mott excitons that dominate the optical response in well-known 2D van der Waals semiconductors, our absorption and layer-dependent photoluminescence measurements reveal the importance of ligand-field and charge-transfer transitions to the optoelectronic response of atomically thin CrI3. We attribute the photoluminescence to a parity-forbidden d–d transition characteristic of Cr3+ complexes, which displays broad linewidth due to strong vibronic coupling and thickness-independent peak energy due to its localized molecular orbital nature.

Research Organization:
Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRC) (United States). Center for Excitonics (CE); Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC05-00OR22725
OSTI ID:
1430601
Journal Information:
Nature Physics, Vol. 14, Issue 3; ISSN 1745-2473
Publisher:
Nature Publishing Group (NPG)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 214 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (53)

New Frontiers on van der Waals Layered Metal Phosphorous Trichalcogenides journal July 2018
Lattice Dynamics, Phonon Chirality, and Spin–Phonon Coupling in 2D Itinerant Ferromagnet Fe 3 GeTe 2 journal September 2019
Controlling Magnetic and Optical Properties of the van der Waals Crystal CrCl 3− x Br x via Mixed Halide Chemistry journal May 2018
Ultrathin Magnetic 2D Single‐Crystal CrSe journal March 2019
Intrinsic Van Der Waals Magnetic Materials from Bulk to the 2D Limit: New Frontiers of Spintronics journal May 2019
Raman fingerprint of two terahertz spin wave branches in a two-dimensional honeycomb Ising ferromagnet journal November 2018
Physical origin of giant excitonic and magneto-optical responses in two-dimensional ferromagnetic insulators journal May 2019
Switchable magnetic bulk photovoltaic effect in the two-dimensional magnet CrI3 journal August 2019
Two-dimensional itinerant ferromagnetism in atomically thin Fe3GeTe2 journal August 2018
Electrical control of 2D magnetism in bilayer CrI3 journal April 2018
Tuning inelastic light scattering via symmetry control in the two-dimensional magnet CrI3 journal January 2020
Routing the emission of a near-surface light source by a magnetic field journal August 2018
Enhancement of interlayer exchange in an ultrathin two-dimensional magnet journal September 2019
Giant nonreciprocal second-harmonic generation from antiferromagnetic bilayer CrI3 journal July 2019
Anisotropic magnetocaloric effect in Fe3−xGeTe2 journal September 2019
Micromagnetometry of two-dimensional ferromagnets journal September 2019
Probing and controlling magnetic states in 2D layered magnetic materials journal September 2019
Distinct spin–lattice and spin–phonon interactions in monolayer magnetic CrI 3 journal January 2018
Prediction of intrinsic two dimensional ferromagnetism realized quantum anomalous Hall effect journal January 2019
Ferromagnetism in magnesium chloride monolayer with an unusually large spin-up gap journal January 2018
Ferromagnetism in a semiconducting Janus NbSe hydride monolayer journal January 2018
Intrinsic magnetism and biaxial strain tuning in two-dimensional metal halides V 3 X 8 (X = F, Cl, Br, I) from first principles and Monte Carlo simulation journal January 2019
Two-dimensional transition-metal halide CoBr 3 with spin-polarized Dirac cone journal January 2019
Lanthanide f 7 metalloxenes – a class of intrinsic 2D ferromagnets journal January 2019
2D ferromagnetism in europium/graphene bilayers journal January 2020
High throughput study on magnetic ground states with Hubbard U corrections in transition metal dihalide monolayers journal January 2020
Recent advances in two-dimensional ferromagnetism: materials synthesis, physical properties and device applications journal January 2020
Biaxial strain induced band transition and valley–spin coupling in the ferromagnetic semiconducting WSe 2 /1T-FeCl 2 heterostructure journal January 2019
Strain controlling transport properties of heterostructure composed of monolayer CrI 3 journal May 2019
Ultrasensitive negative photoresponse in 2D Cr 2 Ge 2 Te 6 photodetector with light-induced carrier trapping journal September 2018
Half-metallicity in two-dimensional Co 2 Se 3 monolayer with superior mechanical flexibility journal September 2018
Calculating critical temperatures for ferromagnetic order in two-dimensional materials journal December 2018
Growth and stabilization of two-dimensional multiferroics MnI 2 journal May 2019
Recent progress of spintronics based on emerging 2D materials: CrI 3 and Xenes journal December 2019
Strain-Induced Room-Temperature Ferromagnetic Semiconductors with Large Anomalous Hall Conductivity in Two-Dimensional Cr 2 Ge 2 Se 6 journal July 2019
Two-dimensional ferromagnetic van der Waals CrC l 3 monolayer with enhanced anisotropy and Curie temperature journal December 2019
Magnetic anisotropy and entropy change in trigonal Cr 5 Te 8 journal December 2019
Anisotropic magnetocaloric effect in single crystals of CrI 3 journal May 2018
Strain-tunable magnetic anisotropy in monolayer CrCl 3 , CrBr 3 , and CrI 3 journal October 2018
CoB 6 monolayer: A robust two-dimensional ferromagnet journal January 2019
Anisotropic magnetic entropy change in Cr 2 X 2 Te 6 ( X = Si and Ge ) journal January 2019
Atomic-resolution visualization and doping effects of complex structures in intercalated bilayer graphene journal June 2019
2D ferromagnetism in layered inorganic-organic hybrid perovskites journal December 2019
Critical behavior and magnetocaloric effect in VI 3 journal January 2020
Probing magnetism in 2D van der Waals crystalline insulators via electron tunneling journal May 2018
Probing magnetism in 2D materials at the nanoscale with single-spin microscopy journal April 2019
Routing the emission of a near-surface light source by a magnetic field preprint January 2017
Electrical Control of 2D Magnetism in Bilayer CrI3 text January 2018
Two-Dimensional Itinerant Ising Ferromagnetism in Atomically thin Fe3GeTe2 text January 2018
Calculating critical temperatures for ferromagnetic order in two-dimensional materials text January 2018
Probing magnetism in 2D materials at the nanoscale with single spin microscopy text January 2019
Physical origin of giant excitonic and magneto-optical responses in two-dimensional ferromagnetic insulators text January 2019
Anisotropic magnetocaloric effect in Fe$_{3-x}$GeTe$_2$ text January 2019

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