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The van der Waals ferromagnet Cr$_2$Ge$_2$Te$_6$ (CGT) has a two-dimensionalcrystal structure where each layer is stacked through van der Waals force. Wehave investigated the nature of the ferromagnetism and the weak perpendicularmagnetic anisotropy (PMA) of CGT by means of X-ray absorption spectroscopy andX-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) studies of CGT single crystals. TheXMCD spectra at the Cr $L_{2,3}$ edge for different magnetic field directionswere analyzed on the basis of the cluster-model multiplet calculation. The Crvalence is confirmed to be 3+ and the orbital magnetic moment is found to benearly quenched, as expected for the high-spin $t_{2g}$$^3$ configuration ofthe Cr$^{3+}$ ion. A large ($\sim 0.2$ eV) trigonal crystal-field splitting ofthe $t_{2g}$ level caused by the distortion of the CrTe$_6$ octahedron has beenrevealed, while the single-ion anisotropy (SIA) of the Cr atom is found to havea sign {\it opposite} to the observed PMA and too weak compared to the reportedanisotropy energy. The present result suggests that anisotropic exchangecoupling between the Cr atoms through the ligand Te $5p$ orbitals having strongspin-orbit coupling has to be invoked to explain the weak PMA of CGT, as in thecase of the strong PMA of CrI$_3$.

Magnetic anisotropy of the van der Waals ferromagnet Cr$_2$Ge$_2$Te$_6$ studied by angular-dependent XMCD