Origin of Multiferroism in VOX2 (X = Cl, Br, I) Monolayers

Nanomaterials (Basel). 2024 Feb 23;14(5):408. doi: 10.3390/nano14050408.

Abstract

Based on the proposed microscopic model, we investigate the multiferroic characteristics of VOX2 (X = Cl, Br, I) monolayers using a Green's function method. The dependence of the microscopic parameters of the ferroelectric system (pseudo-spin arrangement and flipping rate) on the magnitude and sign of the exchange magnetic interaction along the b-axis and the value of the Dzyaloshinskii-Moria vector have been investigated and qualitatively explained. The possibility of observing a spin-reorientation transition with a change in the character of spin ordering from antiferromagnetic to ferromagnetic is investigated. It is found that the antisymmetric magnetoelectric interaction may be responsible for the spin-reorientation transition without a change in the ordering of magnetic moments. Changing the sign of the exchange magnetic interaction along the b-axis leads to ferromagnetic ordering without observing a spin-reorientation transition. The dependence of isotropic and antisymmetric magnetic interactions on the microscopic parameters of the ferroelectric system is qualitatively explained. A mechanism for the occurrence of the spin-reorientation transition is presented based on the proposed microscopic model. The obtained results qualitatively coincide with Density Functional Theory calculations.

Keywords: magnetoelectric interaction; multiferroism; spin-reorientation transition; two-dimensional system.

Grants and funding

This research was funded by Bulgarian National Fund Scientific Studies (contract number KP-06 N68/17/BG-175467353-2022-04-0232).