Magnetic van-der-Waals (vdW) materials present a remarkable opportunity to explore fundamental theorems of magnetism in 2D [1]. Of particular interest is NiPS3, an exfoliable material exhibiting both antiferromagnetic order and strong correlations [2]. Raman measurements find evidence of vanishing long-range magnetic order in monolayers, characteristic of a 2D XY model [3]. In this talk, I will present the results of our Resonant Inelastic X-ray Scattering (RIXS) experiment on exfoliated NiPS3, which revealed a correlation between electronic structure and thickness, influenced by a decrease in transition metal-ligand and ligand-ligand hopping integrals, and in charge transfer energy. Given the growing interest in magnetic vdW materials, it is crucial to understand thickness-driven changes in local electronic structures, as can only be done using RIXS. These findings provide a detailed picture of how dimensionality affects electronic structure and sets the stage for expanding resonant x-ray techniques to 2D limits.

[1] Kenneth S. Burch et al. Nature 563, 47–52 (2018)

[2] Chen-Tai Kuo et al. Scientific Reports 6, 20904 (2016)

[3] K. Kim et al. Nature Communications 10, 1038 (2019)