$Ï$-Electron Ferromagnetism in Metal Free Carbon Probed by Soft X-Ray Dichroism
arXiv:cond-mat/0609478 · doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.98.187204
Abstract
Elemental carbon represents a fundamental building block of matter and the possibility of ferromagnetic order in carbon attracted widespread attention. However, the origin of magnetic order in such a light element is only poorly understood and has puzzled researchers. We present a spectromicroscopy study at room temperature of proton irradiated metal free carbon using the elemental and chemical specificity of x-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD). We demonstrate that the magnetic order in the investigated system originates only from the carbon $Ï$-electron system.
10 pages 3 color figures