Resonant X-ray Photon Correlation Spectroscopy Experiments on the van der Waals Antiferromagnet NiPS₃

In magnetic Van der Waal (vdW) materials such as the Transition Metal Chalchogenophosphates (TMCPs), magnetic interactions between the transition metal cations are confined to the planes of the vdW layers, and thus present the opportunity to study physical 2D magnetic systems in the laboratory. One such TMCP is the antiferromagnetic Mott-insulator NiPS₃, which has recently established itself as a "magnetic analog to graphene" due to its two-dimensionality, hexagonal arrangement of cations, and tuneable transport properties. We employ resonant X-ray diffraction to directly probe the in-plane magnetic order in NiPS₃, and with the combination of X-ray Photon Correlation Spectroscopy (XPCS) and X-ray Photon Fluctuation Spectroscopy (XPFS), analyze its dynamics at time-scales ranging from seconds to the ultra-fast regime. We will share and discuss our first X-ray results and future outlooks for experiments using this approach.