Large Orbital Magnetic Moment in VI<sub>3</sub>.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 36722374.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1021/acs.nanolett.2c04045 and PMC identifier 9951247.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
The existence of the V<sup>3+</sup>-ion orbital moment is an open issue of the nature of magnetism in the van der Waals ferromagnet VI<sub>3</sub>. The huge magnetocrystalline anisotropy in conjunction with the significantly reduced ordered magnetic moment compared to the spin-only value provides strong but indirect evidence of a large V orbital moment. We used the unique capability of X-ray magnetic circular dichroism to determine the orbital component of the total magnetic moment and provide a direct proof of an exceptionally sizable orbital moment of the V<sup>3+</sup> ion in VI<sub>3</sub>. Our ligand field multiplet simulations of the XMCD spectra in synergy with the results of DFT calculations agree with the existence of two V sites with different orbital occupations and OM magnitudes in the ground state.