Thickness-Dependent and Magnetic-Field-Driven Suppression of Antiferromagnetic Order in Thin V$_{5}$S$_{8}$ Single Crystals

TL;DR

This study investigates how reducing the thickness of V$_{5}$S$_{8}$ crystals affects their antiferromagnetic order and magnetic responses, revealing suppression of magnetic order and a change in transition nature at nanoscale dimensions.

Contribution

It provides new insights into the thickness-dependent magnetic phase transitions and suppression of antiferromagnetism in V$_{5}$S$_{8}$ nanoscale crystals.

Findings

T_N decreases with decreasing thickness

Hysteresis disappears as thickness approaches 10 nm

Metamagnetic transition becomes second order at nanoscale

Abstract

With materials approaching the 2d limit yielding many exciting systems with intriguing physical properties and promising technological functionalities, understanding and engineering magnetic order in nanoscale, layered materials is generating keen interest. One such material is V$_{5}$S$_{8}$, a metal with an antiferromagnetic ground state below the N\'eel temperature $T_{N} \sim$ 32 K and a prominent spin-flop signature in the magnetoresistance (MR) when $H||c \sim$ 4.2 T. Here we study nanoscale-thickness single crystals of V$_{5}$S$_{8}$, focusing on temperatures close to $T_{N}$ and the evolution of material properties in response to systematic reduction in crystal thickness. Transport measurements just below $T_{N}$ reveal magnetic hysteresis that we ascribe to a metamagnetic transition, the first-order magnetic field-driven breakdown of the ordered state. The reduction of crystal thickness to $\sim$ 10 nm coincides with systematic changes in the magnetic response: $T_{N}$ falls, implying that antiferromagnetism is suppressed; and while the spin-flop signature remains, the hysteresis disappears, implying that the metamagnetic transition becomes second order as the thickness approaches the 2d limit. This work demonstrates that single crystals of magnetic materials with nanometer thicknesses are promising systems for future studies of magnetism in reduced dimensionality and quantum phase transitions.