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  • Letter
  • Open Access

Strong effects of uniaxial pressure and short-range correlations in Cr2Ge2Te6

S. Spachmann1,*, A. Elghandour1, S. Selter2, B. Büchner2,3, S. Aswartham2,†, and R. Klingeler1,‡

  • 1Kirchhoff Institute for Physics, Heidelberg University, INF 227, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany
  • 2Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research (IFW), Helmholtzstraße 20, 01069 Dresden, Germany
  • 3Institute of Solid State and Materials Physics and Würzburg-Dresden Cluster of Excellence ct.qmat, Technische Universität Dresden, 01062 Dresden, Germany

  • *sven.spachmann@kip.uni-heidelberg.de
  • †s.aswartham@ifw-dresden.de
  • ‡klingeler@kip.uni-heidelberg.de
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Phys. Rev. Research 4, L022040 – Published 20 May, 2022

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.4.L022040

Abstract

Cr2Ge2Te6 is a quasi-two-dimensional semiconducting van der Waals ferromagnet down to the bilayer with great potential for technological applications. Engineering the critical temperature to achieve room-temperature applications is one of the critical next steps on this path. Here, we report high-resolution capacitance dilatometry studies on Cr2Ge2Te6 single crystals which directly prove significant magnetoelastic coupling and provide quantitative values of the large uniaxial pressure effects on long-range magnetic order (∂TC/∂pc=24.7 K/GPa and ∂TC/∂pab=−15.6 K/GPa) derived from thermodynamic relations. Moderate in-plane strain is thus sufficient to strongly enhance ferromagnetism in Cr2Ge2Te6 up to room temperature. Moreover, unambiguous signs of short-range magnetic order up to 200 K are found.

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Phys. Rev. Research 4, L022040– Published 20 May, 2022
  • Received 7 February 2022
  • Revised 11 April 2022
  • Accepted 25 April 2022
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