Strong magneto-optical and anomalous transport manifestations in two-dimensional van der Waals magnets Fe$_n$GeTe$_2$ ($n$ = 3, 4, 5)

TL;DR

This study uses first-principles calculations to explore magneto-optical and anomalous transport phenomena in monolayer and bilayer Fe$_n$GeTe$_2$, revealing significant effects and novel magnetic behaviors, including in antiferromagnetic bilayer structures.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive analysis of magnetocrystalline anisotropy, magneto-optical, and anomalous transport properties in Fe$_n$GeTe$_2$ layers, highlighting rare phenomena in antiferromagnetic bilayers.

Findings

Gigantic anomalous Nernst and thermal Hall effects in ferromagnetic layers.

Presence of magneto-optical effects in bilayer antiferromagnetic Fe$_5$GeTe$_2$.

Anomalous Hall conductivity of 2.63 e$^2$/h in bilayer antiferromagnetic Fe$_5$GeTe$_2$.

Abstract

Utilizing the first-principles calculations together with the group theory analysis, we systematically investigate the magnetocrystalline anisotropy energy, magneto-optical effect, and anomalous transport properties (including anomalous Hall, Nernst, and thermal Hall effects) of monolayer and bilayer Fe$_n$GeTe$_2$ ($n$ = 3, 4, 5). The monolayer Fe$_n$GeTe$_2$ ($n$ = 3, 4, 5) exhibits the out-of-plane, in-plane, and in-plane ferromagnetic orders with considerable magnetocrystalline anisotropy energies of -3.17, 4.42, and 0.58 meV/f.u., respectively. Ferromagnetic order is predicted in bilayer Fe$_4$GeTe$_2$ while antiferromagnetic order prefers in bilayer Fe$_3$GeTe$_2$ and Fe$_5$GeTe$_2$. The group theory analysis reveals that in addition to monolayer ferromagnetic Fe$_n$GeTe$_2$ ($n$ = 3, 4, 5), the magneto-optical and anomalous transport phenomena surprisingly exist in bilayer antiferromagnetic Fe$_5$GeTe$_2$, which is much rare in realistic collinear antiferromagnets. If spin magnetic moments of monolayer and bilayer Fe$_n$GeTe$_2$ are reoriented from the in-plane to out-of-plane direction, the magneto-optical and anomalous transport properties enhance significantly, presenting strong magnetic anisotropy. We also demonstrate that the anomalous Hall effect decreases with the temperature increases. The gigantic anomalous Nernst and thermal Hall effects are found in monolayer and bilayer ferromagnetic Fe$_n$GeTe$_2$, and the largest anomalous Nernst and thermal Hall conductivities, respectively, of -3.31 A/Km and 0.22 W/Km at 130 K are observed in bilayer ferromagnetic Fe$_4$GeTe$_2$. Especially, bilayer antiferromagnetic Fe$_5$GeTe$_2$ exhibits large zero-temperature anomalous Hall conductivity of 2.63 e$^2$/h as well as anomalous Nernst and thermal Hall conductivities of 2.76 A/Km and 0.10 W/Km at 130 K, respectively.