Pressure induced ferromagnetic to antiferromagnetic phase transition in transition metal chalcogenide Cr$_{3}$Te$_4$

Abstract

We have carried out a detailed high-pressure investigation on the strongly correlated transition metal chalcogenide $Cr_{3}Te_4$ using Raman spectroscopy and XRD, which is ferromagnetic and metallic at ambient conditions. We find that the monoclinic structure remains stable up to 30 GPa, the highest pressure studied. The Cr-Te bond length and octahedral volume decrease drastically up to 7.6 GPa pressure. The $A_{1g}$ Raman mode shows a red shift up to 7.6 GPa, and the $E_g$ Raman mode shows a sudden drop around the same pressure. Further low-temperature Raman spectroscopic investigation shows that the Raman modes soften at the ferromagnetic to antiferromagnetic phase transition. This suggests a change in the magnetic ordering at high pressure. Our Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculations reveal the change in magnetic ground state from ferromagnetic state to antiferromagnetic state above 7.6 GPa pressure, corroborating our experimental result.