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Layered van der Waals (vdW) crystals with intrinsic magnetic properties such as high Curie temperature (TC) and large perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) are key to the development and application of spintronic devices. The ferromagnetic vdW metal Fe3-xGeTe2 (FGT) has gained prominence recently due to its high TC (220 K) and strong PMA. Here, we introduce a new metallic vdW ferromagnets, Fe5-xGe2Te2 or FG2T, which was successfully synthesized and fully characterized. FG2T is a metal that orders ferromagnetically with a very sharp transition at 250 K (bulk and single crystal thin flakes) and shows large PMA, as found by both experimental and computational studies. This work enables novel heterostructure devices with near room temperature capabilities by using FG2T as spin injector.

In the isostructural oxides Ca3CoMO6 (M = Co, Rh, Ir), the CoMO6 chains made up of face-sharing CoO6 trigonal prisms and MO6 octahedra are separated by Ca atoms. We analyzed the magnetic and electronic properties of these oxides on the basis of density functional theory calculations including on-site repulsion and spin-orbit coupling, and examined the essential one-electron pictures hidden behind results of these calculations. Our analysis reveals an intimate interplay between Jahn-Teller instability, uniaxial magnetism, spin arrangement, metal-metal interaction, and spin-orbit coupling in governing the magnetic and electronic properties of these oxides. These oxides undergo a Jahn-Teller distortion but their distortions are weak, so that their trigonal-prism Con+ (n = 2, 3) ions still give rise to strong easy-axis anisotropy along the chain direction. As for the d-state split pattern of these ions, the electronic and magnetic properties of Ca3CoMO6 (M = Co, Rh, Ir) are consistent with d0 < (d2, d-2) < (d1, d-1), but not with (d2, d-2) < d0 < (d1, d-1). The trigonal-prism Co3+ ion in Ca3Co2O6 has the L = 2 configuration (d0)1(d2, d-2)3(d1, d-1)2 because of the metal-metal interaction between adjacent Co3+ ions in each Co2O6 chain, which is mediated by their z2 orbitals, and the spin-orbit coupling of the trigonal-prism Co3+ ion. The spins in each CoMO6 chain of Ca3CoMO6 prefer the ferromagnetic arrangement for M = Co and Rh, but the antiferromagnetic arrangement for M = Ir. The octahedral M4+ ion of Ca3CoMO6 has the (1a)1(1e)4 configuration for M = Rh but the (1a)2(1e)3 configuration for M = Ir, which arises from the difference in the spin-orbit coupling of the M4+ ions and the Co...M metal-metal interactions., Comment: 43 pages, 12 figures, 4 tables

The ordered magnetic states of MnWO4 at low temperatures were examined by evaluating the spin exchange interactions between the Mn2+ ions of MnWO4 on the basis of first principles density functional calculations and by performing classical spin analysis with the resulting spin exchange parameters. Our work shows that the spin exchange interactions are frustrated within each zigzag chain of Mn2+ ions along the c-direction and between such chains of Mn2+ ions along the a-direction. This explains the occurrence of a spiral-spin order along the c- and a-directions in the incommensurate magnetic state AF2, and that of a uudd spin order along the c- and a-directions in the commensurate magnetic state AF1. The ferroelectric polarization of MnWO4 in the spiral-spin state AF2 was examined by performing Berry phase calculations for a model superstructure to find that the ferroelectric polarization occurs along the b-direction, in agreement with experiment., Comment: 30 pages, 10 figures, 4 figures