Germanene-Based Two-Dimensional Magnet with Tunable Properties

Abstract

Magnetic order engineering in two-dimensional Dirac systems is of great interest for theoretical and technological exploration. Up to now, the experimental advances in this field mostly concerned graphene monolayers. Here, we report a comprehensive study of a monolayer-thick germanene-like sheet in contact with gadolinium atoms. Direct observations supported by first-principles calculations reveal the fingerprints of the Dirac fermions in the electronic structure and noncollinear antiferromagnetism. The hybridization of the germanene layer with Gd atoms leads to a large and tunable gap in the Dirac states that carry a nonzero spin-Berry curvature. We discovered that cesium-induced controlled electron doping can switch the system into a ferromagnetic state and then back to the antiferromagnetism at saturated cesium monolayer limit. We explain these reversible magnetic transitions by the oscillatory behavior of the Ruderman–Kittel–Kasuya–Yosida interaction and suggest that this system could find application in magnetoelectronics and spintronics.