Proximity-induced ferromagnetism and chemical reactivity in few-layer <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mml:mrow><mml:msub><mml:mi mathvariant="normal">VSe</mml:mi><mml:mn>2</mml:mn></mml:msub></mml:mrow></mml:math> heterostructures
Giovanni Vinai, Chiara Bigi, Akhil Rajan, Matthew D. Watson, T.-L. Lee, Federico Mazzola, S. Modesti, Sourabh Barua, Monica Ciomaga Hatnean, G. Balakrishnan, P. D. C. King, Piero Torelli, G. Rossi, G. Panaccione
Abstract
Among transition-metal dichalcogenides, mono and few-layers thick ${\mathrm{VSe}}_{2}$ has gained much recent attention following claims of intrinsic room-temperature ferromagnetism in this system, which have nonetheless proved controversial. Here, we address the magnetic and chemical properties of $\mathrm{Fe}/{\mathrm{VSe}}_{2}$ heterostructure by combining element sensitive x-ray absorption spectroscopy and photoemission spectroscopy. Our x-ray magnetic circular dichroism results confirm recent findings that both native mono/few-layer and bulk ${\mathrm{VSe}}_{2}$ do not show intrinsic ferromagnetic ordering. Nonetheless, we find that ferromagnetism can be induced, even at room temperature, after coupling with a Fe thin film layer, with antiparallel alignment of the moment on the V with respect to Fe. We further consider the chemical reactivity at the $\mathrm{Fe}/{\mathrm{VSe}}_{2}$ interface and its relation with interfacial magnetic coupling.