In the family of 2D materials, atomically thin magnetic systems are relatively new and highly exploitable. Understanding the spin symmetry in such materials has opened a new path toward controlling the magnetic texture.
In this study, we have shown that the plethora of different interface formations in the Janus or pure metal-semiconductor-based van der Waals heterostructures 1T-VXY (X, Y = S, Se, Te)-Cr2A3B3 (A, B = I, Cl, Br) allows us to explore and modify the spin-orbit and ligand-metal interactions to fine-tune magnetic anisotropy and different spin symmetries in these systems. We have utilized the interlayer interactions to modulate spin-orbit coupling (SOC) in heterolayers to regulate the magnetic anisotropy in such systems.
We have compared systems with the same compositions and different interfaces, for example, Janus VSTe-Janus Cr2I3Br3 and Janus VTeS-Janus Cr2I3Br3, to show that the first one is an Ising ferromagnet, whereas the second one is an XY ferromagnet because of the SOC effect of the heavy ligand atoms.