  Van der Waals (vdWs) crystals have attracted a great deal of scientific
attention due to their interesting physical properties and widespread practical
applications. Among all, CrSiTe3 (CST) is a ferromagnetic semiconductor with
the Curie temperature (TC) of ~32 K. In this letter, we study the magnetic
properties of bulk CST single-crystal upon proton irradiation with the fluence
of 1x1018 protons/cm2. Most significantly, we observed an enhancement (23%) in
the saturation magnetization from 3.9 {\mu}B to 4.8 {\mu}B and is accompanied
by an increase in the coercive field (465-542 Oe) upon proton irradiation.
Temperature-dependent X-band electron paramagnetic resonance measurements show
no additional magnetically active defects/vacancies that are generated upon
proton irradiation. The findings from X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and
Raman measurements lead us to believe that modification in the spin-lattice
coupling and introduction of disorder could cause enhancement in saturation
magnetization. This work demonstrates that proton irradiation is a feasible
method in modifying the magnetic properties of vdWs crystals, which represents
a significant step forward in designing future spintronic and
magneto-electronic applications.
