Thickness-dependent magnetic order in CrI₃ single crystals

Two-dimensional (2D) materials with intrinsic ferromagnetism provide unique opportunity to engineer new functionalities in nano-spintronics. One such material is CrI$_3$, showing long-range magnetic order in monolayer with the Curie temperature ($T_c$) of 45 K. Here we study detailed evolution of magnetic transition and magnetic critical properties in response to systematic reduction in crystal thickness down to 50 nm. Bulk $T_c$ of 61 K is gradually suppressed to 57 K, however, the satellite transition at $T^*$ = 45 K is observed layer-independent at fixed magnetic field of 1 kOe. The origin of $T^*$ is proposed to be a crossover from pinning to depinning of magnetic domain walls. The reduction of thickness facilitates a field-driven metamagnetic transition around 20 kOe with out-of-plane field, in contrast to the continuous changes with in-plane field. The critical analysis around $T_c$ elucidates the mean-field type interactions in microscale-thick CrI$_3$.