Chromium trihalides: Fundamentals and Future Applications

Speaker: David Soriano – Universidad de Alicante

Host: Zeila Zanolli

Abstract:

The presence of magnetism in bulk chromium trihalides has been known since the early experiments of Kamerlingh Onnes in 1925. However, the experimental observation of long-range ferromagnetic order in monolayer CrI₃ was only observed one century later. This discovery opened new paths toward the design of novel ultrathin magnetic and spintronic devices based on van der Waals heterostructures, which will probably become the game changer in the future of electronics and quantum technologies. In this seminar, I will try to highlight the importance of the discovery of magnetic two-dimensional materials. Then, I will use chromium trihalides as model 2D ferromagnets to describe these materials’ electronic and magnetic properties. Finally, I will show some recent results that shed some light on understanding the electronic properties of monolayer and bulk CrI₃, and a potential valleytronic application involving CrBr₃/WSe₂ heterostructures.