Why magnetism in certain materials is different in atomically thin layers and their bulk forms

Researchers led by MIT Department of Physics Professor Pablo Jarillo-Herrero last year showed that rotating layers of hexagonally structured graphene at a particular "magic angle" could change the material's electronic properties from an insulating state to a superconducting state. Now researchers in the same group and their collaborators have demonstrated that in a different ultra-thin material that also features a honeycomb-shaped atomic structure—chromium trichloride (CrCl3)—they can alter the material's magnetic properties by shifting the stacking order of layers.