Since the first isolation of graphene in 2004, the field of Van der Waals (or 2D) materials has emerged as a significant area of interest in condensed matter physics. Researchers have discovered various 2D crystals exhibiting metallic, semiconductor, and superconducting properties, and more recently [1][2] with intrinsic magnetism. Among these newly found 2D magnets, CrSBr[3] stands out as being both an anti-ferromagnet and a semi-conductor, on top of being one of the few 2D magnets stable under ambient conditions. Our team in Basel uses NV center magnetometry [4][5] to image the magnetic properties of thin CrSBr flakes at the nanoscale. We discovered that we could use the parts of a single flake with various thickness (2,3,4-layers etc.) to engineer magnetic textures in the flake. Notably, we achieved the creation of anti-ferromagnetic domains in CrSBr bilayers through a method we refer to as “lateral exchange bias.”. This demonstrates the first observation of anti-ferromagnetic domains in a 2D magnet, an important step for both fundamental physics and potential applications in spintronics. During my talk I will introduce the NV center magnetometer that we developed in Basel, as well as the concepts that allowed us to measure and control the antiferromagnetic order in the flakes.

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References :
​​ B. Huang et al.: Nature 546, 270 (2017)
C. Gong et al.: Nature 546, 265 (2017)
K. Lee et al.: Nano Lett. 21, 3511 (2021)​
L. Thiel et al.: Science 364, 973 (2019)
M. A. Tschudin et al.: Nat. Commun. 15, 1 (2024)


Plus d'information :https://www.spintec.fr/seminar-engineering-anti-ferromagnetic-domains-in-atomically-thin-magnet​​/