Emergent ferromagnetism in layered VCrO3 corundums

In this proposal, we want to identify and understand interfacial magnetism that emerges in a layered ilmenite VCrO3 thin film. High-quality VCrO3 superlattices (SLs) involving the alternation of several monolayers of V2O3 and Cr2O3 have been grown by oxygen-assisted molecular beam epitaxy. The layered structure with atomically sharp interfaces has been confirmed by X-ray reflectivity and HAADF-STEM. Furthermore, the ilmenite (1ML periodic limit SL) has shown the emergence of a weak FM ordering, as also confirmed by first-principle calculations. The aim is to identify the interfacial nature of this FM ordering by studying a series of SLs with increasing periodicity, and to understand the fundamental exchange mechanism.