Emergent magnetic states due to stacking and strain in the van der Waals magnetic trilayer CrI3

TL;DR

This study reveals how stacking configurations and strain influence magnetic states in trilayer CrI3, explaining experimental observations and guiding the design of magnetic multilayers with desired properties.

Contribution

It demonstrates that different stacking structures combined with strain can produce the magnetic states observed experimentally in trilayer CrI3, offering a new way to control magnetic properties.

Findings

All four stacking structures have FM-upupup ground state.

Strain induces different magnetic ground states depending on stacking.

Experimental magnetic states can be explained by stacking and strain effects.

Abstract

Recently, three different magnetic states were observed experimentally in trilayer CrI3 under pressure,including ferromagnetic (FM)-upupup, FM-downupdown and FM-upupdown. To reveal the nature of the observed three magnetic states, we studied the magnetic properties of four possible stacking structures in trilayer CrI3: I (rhombohedral), II (monoclinic), III (hexagonal) and IV (triclinic). We find that all four stacking structures possess the FM-upupup ground state. After applying a few strains, the FM-downupdown becomes the ground state in II and III structures, and the FM-upupdown is preferred in IV structure, while the FM-upupup persists in I structure. Our results unveil that the three magnetic states observed in trilayer CrI3 may correspond to different stacking structures with small tensile strains, which can well interpret the experimentally obtained pressure dependent interlayer coupling and Curie temperature. Our present study paves a way to design the magnetic multilayers with required magnetic states by tuning stacking and strain.