Two-dimensional magnetic materials are a class of materials that exhibit magnetic properties down to their monolayer limit. These materials have garnered significant attention due to their potential applications in spintronics, data storage, and quantum computing.

Proximity effects in 2D van-der Waals semiconductor-magnetic heterostructures:
Valley manipulation in few-layer TMDs by means of an external magnetic field is of great research interest for applications, as well as for developing fundamental understanding, but such experiments require a very high magnetic field. Recently explored 2D heterostructures consisting of semiconducting & magnetic layers are promising platforms to study various magnetic proximity-induced phenomena like Zeeman splitting & valley polarization at much lower magnetic fields. We aim to explore & understand these phenomena in different combinations of TMDs & 2D magnetic materials.

Synthesis of wafer-scale 2D magnetic crystals:
A key challenge for 2D magnets is scalable, high-quality synthesis. Using a tailored vapour deposition approach, we have demonstrated large-grain, wafer-scale epitaxial growth of CrCl₃ — a layered van der Waals antiferromagnet. By employing several synthesis innovations, we achieve single-crystal grains far exceeding those from conventional CVD. This opens a route to integrating 2D magnetic materials into scalable spintronic and quantum devices.

Useful references:
Zhong et al., “Van der Waals engineering of ferromagnetic semiconductor heterostructures for spin and valleytronics”, Sci. Adv. 2017; 3: e1603113.
Zhong et al., “Layer-resolved magnetic proximity effect in van der Waals heterostructures”, Nature Nanotechnology, 15, 187– 191 (2020).
Vivek Kumar et al., “Tailored Vapor Deposition Unlocks Large-Grain, Wafer-Scale Epitaxial Growth of 2D Magnetic CrCl₃”, Advanced Materials 38, e14405 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.202514405