Since the discovery of graphene in 2004 a host of materials has been growing inthe 2D limit including semiconductors, superconductors, and topological insulators, all of
which exhibit a range of unique properties. These crystals are defined by consisting of few-
atom-thick sheets which can be stacked upon one another into a myriad of combinations
of heterostructures with atomically sharp interfaces that effectively become fundamentally
new quantum materials. But it wasn’t until 2017 that long-range magnetic ordering was
observed in such systems. Bringing magnetism to the 2D regime similarly opens many
doors. For example, magnetic anisotropy introduces novel interactions, and topological
phenomena are more easily observed.
In this thesis, I present experiments on magnetic van der Waals (vdW) materials
that share similar properties such as perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) and the
presence of topological spin textures. My main method of probing these phenomena is
a scanning probe technique known as magnetic force microscopy (MFM), a 2D imaging
technique which is sensitive to the stray fields of the spins within a magnetic sample. I
also employ a relatively new approach to probe the interlayer exchange coupling of such
magnetism using a quartz tuning fork (QTF) as a strong oscillator rotated within an external
magnetic field to perform Differential Torque measurements. The results show incredible
promise for a family of materials that can exhibit similar behaviors with their own unique
flavors under varying circumstances.
As the synthesis of vdW magnets becomes more routine, the techniques utilized in
these studies help to establish a workflow for characterizing and probing the many unreal-
ized magnetic materials on the horizon. Additionally, the skyrmions observed in Fe3GeTe2
pave the way for spintronic techniques and applications. Finally, the topological magnetic
textures imaged from Fe-doped TaS2 provide insight and additional contribution to a rel-
atively young and every growing body of knowledge in the facet of magnetically doped
transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) systems.