Researchers, led by Chunhui Rita Du from the University of California, San Diego, have made significant strides in understanding an engineered quantum state of matter known as moiré magnetism, which emerges when two-dimensional crystals are stacked with a slight twist. This area of study is at the cutting edge of condensed matter physics. By using quantum sensing, Du’s team has observed magnetic domains and spin behaviors in twisted double trilayer chromium triiodide (tDT CrI3). They found that in low-twist-angle structures, distinct moiré patterns of opposite magnetizations appear, while spin fluctuations show little variation due to strong interactions within the layers.
A crucial part of this discovery was made possible by using specially designed diamond plates, fabricated by the Qnami Quantum foundry. These plates, which contain very shallow implanted nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers, allowed for precise imaging of the magnetic properties at the nanoscale.
Researchers led by Ramamoorthy Ramesh used the Qnami ProteusQ™ quantum microscope to uncover how complex labyrinthine spin cycloids and their topological defects emerge in noncollinear antiferromagnets.
