Magnetic interactions in a new honeycomb van der Waals magnet

Van der Waals magnets have attracted considerable attention due to their potential applications in spintronic devices. Among these layered compounds, the BiI3-type honeycomb lattice materials have been a central focus in the field of magnetism, owing to their diverse magnetic ground states. Vanadium ions in VI3, with their L = 1 angular momentum, exhibit non-quenched orbital moments, resulting in exotic ferromagnetic spin-orbit excitations.
VCl3 is a recent addition to the family of vanadium halides, sharing the same structure as VI3 at room temperature. However, despite the extensive investigations conducted on VI3, relatively limited research on VCl3, from both theoretical and experimental perspectives, has been reported. The identification of antiferromagnetic behavior in VCl3, as opposed to the more common ferromagnetic ground state in its counterpart VI3, raises questions about the underlying physics. Studying magnon excitations can help uncover the magnetic interactions and their origins in VCl3. In addition, the enigmatic nature of VCl3's magnetic interactions and their connection to the orbital degree of freedom in the material presents an exciting opportunity for fundamental research.