Thickness dependence of antiferromagnetic phase transition in Heisenberg-type MnPS3

The behavior of 2-dimensional (2D) van der Waals (vdW) layered magnetic materials in the 2D limit of the few-layer thickness is an important fundamental issue for the understanding of the magnetic ordering in lower dimensions. The antiferromagnetic transition temperature T_N of the Heisenberg-type 2D magnetic vdW material MnPS₃ was estimated as a function of the number of layers. The antiferromagnetic transition was identified by temperature-dependent Raman spectroscopy, from the broadening of a phonon peak at 155 cm^?1, accompanied by an abrupt redshift and an increase of its spectral weight. T_N is found to decrease only slightly from ~78 K for bulk to ~66 K for 3L. The small reduction of T_N in thin MnPS₃ approaching the 2D limit implies that the interlayer vdW interaction is playing an important role in stabilizing magnetic ordering in layered magnetic materials.