High Curie temperature and large perpendicular magnetic anisotropy in two-dimensional half metallic OsI3 monolayer with quantum anomalous Hall effect

The 5d transition heavy elements with large spin-orbit coupling (SOC) effect can induce a large magnetic anisotropy energy (MAE) in magnetic materials. Meanwhile, the asymmetric occupation of 5d orbital electrons in transition metal trihalides can also trigger interesting orbital ordering. Here, the electronic structure and magnetic properties of two-dimensional (2D) OsI3 monolayer were investigated by first-principles calculations. The OsI3 monolayer has two orbital orderings with low spin states, where the half-metallic state is an Ising ferromagnet with a Curie temperature (TC) of 208 K and a perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) of -45.8 meV, but the Mott insulator state has an in-plane magnetic anisotropy (IMA) of 13.7 meV. The half-metallic state included non-self-consistent SOC calculations opens a band gap of 118.3 meV, showing a quantum anomalous Hall effect (QAHE) with a Chern number (C) of -1. A topologically trivial band gap opened in self-consistent SOC calculations, where QAHE of C = -2 can be realized by shifting Fermi surface. The in-plane biaxial strain can significantly tailor the MAE of the half-metallic state, yielding a PMA of -33.0 and -50.7 meV at a compressive strain of 6% and -2%. Meanwhile, TC rises to 275 K at a tensile strain of 6%. The transition between Mott insulator and half-metallic states can also be regulated by strain. These findings suggest that OsI3 monolayer is promising for 2D magnetism and spintronics.

Automated summary

In this study, the electronic structure and magnetic properties of a two-dimensional (2D) OsI3 monolayer were investigated using first-principles calculations. The results show that the monolayer exhibits various orbital orderings and magnetic states, and can be modulated by strain to control magnetic anisotropy and Curie temperature, indicating its potential application in spintronics.