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Strong magneto-chiral dichroism in enantiopure chiral ferromagnets

Nature Materials volume 7, pages 729–734 (2008)Cite this article

Abstract

As materials science is moving towards the synthesis, the study and the processing of new materials exhibiting well-defined and complex functions, the synthesis of new multifunctional materials is one of the important challenges. One of these complex physical properties is magneto-chiral dichroism which arises, at second order, from the coexistence of spatial asymmetry and magnetization in a material. Herein we report the first measurement of strong magneto-chiral dichroism in an enantiopure chiral ferromagnet. The ab initio synthesis of the enantiopure chiral ferromagnet is based on an enantioselective self-assembly, where a resolved chiral quaternary ammonium cation imposes the absolute configurations of the metal centres within chromium–manganese two-dimensional oxalate layers. The ferromagnetic interaction between Cr(III) and Mn(II) ions leads to a Curie temperature of 7 K. The magneto-chiral dichroic effect is enhanced by a factor of 17 when entering into the ferromagnetic phase.

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Figure 1: Weakness of the chirality in the 2D oxalate-based chiral magnets.
Figure 3: Crystal structure of 1.
Figure 2: The counterion controls the configuration of the chromium centre.
Figure 4: Magnetic properties of the chiral magnet.
Figure 5: Inversion of the magneto-chiral dichroism with the enantiomer.
Figure 6: Enhancement of magneto-chiral dichroism at the Curie temperature of 1.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the UPMC, CNRS and Russian Academy of Sciences. The authors acknowledge financial support from Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (RI 1027 for instrumentation and SPP 1137 for the grant of R.G.), CNRS/RAS Joint Research Program (project No. 16332) and the RFBR grant No. 05-03-33026. Discussions with K. Boubekeur about the crystallographic determination were particularly useful.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratoire de Chimie Inorganique et Matériaux Moléculaires, UMR 7071, IFR 2769, UPMC, case 42, 4 place Jussieu, F-75252 Paris cedex 05, France

    Cyrille Train, Ruxandra Gheorghe, Lise-Marie Chamoreau, Michel Gruselle & Michel Verdaguer

  2. Trinity College Dublin, Centre for Research on Adaptive Nanostructures and Nanodevices, Dublin 2, Ireland

    Vojislav Krstic

  3. Laboratoire National des Champs Magnétiques Pulsés, CNRS/INSA/UPS, B.P. 14245, F-31400 Toulouse, France

    Vojislav Krstic & Geert L. J. A. Rikken

  4. Institute of Problems of Chemical Physics, Russian Academy of Science, Moscow Region, 142432 Chernogolovka, Russia

    Nikolai S. Ovanesyan

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  1. Cyrille Train
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  2. Ruxandra Gheorghe
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  5. Nikolai S. Ovanesyan
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  6. Geert L. J. A. Rikken
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  7. Michel Gruselle
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  8. Michel Verdaguer
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Contributions

C.T. proposed the appropriate chiral ammonium, undertook the magnetic measurements, took part in the MChD measurements and coordinated the whole work. R.G. carried out the synthesis and single-crystal growth. V.K. carried out the MChD measurements. L.M.C. recorded the crystallographic data and solved the structure. N.S.O. took part in the analysis of the magnetic and structural data. G.L.J.A.R. conceived and built the cryostat and the MChD measurement device and supervised the MChD measurements. M.G. was in charge of the synthetic part of the project from the beginning and supervised daily the synthetic work of R.G. M.V. launched the chiral magnets project and took part in the MChD measurements.

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Correspondence to Cyrille Train or Michel Gruselle.

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Train, C., Gheorghe, R., Krstic, V. et al. Strong magneto-chiral dichroism in enantiopure chiral ferromagnets. Nature Mater 7, 729–734 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat2256

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