Temperature-dependent magnetic anisotropy in the layered magnetic semiconductors CrI3 and CrBr3

Chromium trihalides are layered and exfoliable semiconductors and exhibit unusual magnetic properties with a surprising temperature dependence of the magnetization. By analyzing the evolution of the magnetocrystalline anisotropy with temperature in chromium iodide $\mathrm{Cr}{\mathrm{I}}_{3}$, we find it strongly changes from ${K}_{u}=300\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}50\phantom{\rule{4pt}{0ex}}\mathrm{kJ}/{\mathrm{m}}^{3}$ at $5\phantom{\rule{4pt}{0ex}}\mathrm{K}$ to ${K}_{u}=43\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}7\phantom{\rule{4pt}{0ex}}\mathrm{kJ}/{\mathrm{m}}^{3}$ at $60\phantom{\rule{4pt}{0ex}}\mathrm{K}$, close to the Curie temperature. We draw a direct comparison to $\mathrm{CrB}{\mathrm{r}}_…