Thickness dependence of antiferromagnetic phase transition in Heisenberg-type MnPS3

TL;DR

This study investigates how the antiferromagnetic transition temperature in MnPS3 varies with layer thickness, revealing that interlayer interactions significantly influence magnetic stability in 2D layered materials.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed analysis of the thickness dependence of TN in MnPS3, highlighting the role of interlayer vdW interactions in magnetic ordering.

Findings

TN decreases slightly from 78 K to 66 K from bulk to 3 layers

Antiferromagnetic order remains relatively stable in few-layer MnPS3

Interlayer vdW interactions are crucial for magnetic stability in 2D materials

Abstract

The behavior of 2-dimensional (2D) van der Waals (vdW) layered magnetic materials in the 2D limit of the few-layer thickness is an important fundamental issue for the understanding of the magnetic ordering in lower dimensions. The antiferromagnetic transition temperature TN of the Heisenberg-type 2D magnetic vdW material MnPS3 was estimated as a function of the number of layers. The antiferromagnetic transition was identified by temperature-dependent Raman spectroscopy, from the broadening of a phonon peak at 155 cm-1, accompanied by an abrupt redshift and an increase of its spectral weight. TN is found to decrease only slightly from ~78 K for bulk to ~ 66 K for 3L. The small reduction of TN in thin MnPS3 approaching the 2D limit implies that the interlayer vdW interaction is playing an important role in stabilizing magnetic ordering in layered magnetic materials.