In situ growth and magnetic characterization of Cr Chloride monolayers

Monolayer Chromium Dihalides and Trihalides materials can be grown on a variety of substrates by molecular beam epitaxy regardless of the lattice mismatch thanks to the van der Waals epitaxy. In this work, we studied the magnetic nature of Cr Chloride monolayers grown on Au(111), Ni(111) and graphene-passivated Ni(111) from the evaporation in ultra-high vacuum of the same halide precursor. Structural, morphological and magnetic characterizations were conducted in situ by low energy electron diffraction (LEED), scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and X-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD). Owing to opposite chemical behaviour, Au(111) and Ni(111) promote the formation of two different valence compounds, i.e. CrCl₃ and CrCl₂, showing distinct magnetic properties at 4 K. When graphene is used to passivate the Ni(111) surface, the formation of CrCl₃ becomes allowed also on this substrate. The coexistence of CrCl₃ and CrCl₂, both showing few nm lateral size and super-paramagnetic properties, is demonstrated by XMCD spectra displaying two dichroic peaks at the characteristic Cr³⁺ and Cr²⁺ energies. Site-selective magnetization measurements performed with the photon energy tuned on the two absorption edges show reversed magnetization of some of the CrCl₂ islands with respect to the CrCl3 domains, which is interpreted in terms of magnetic frustration.