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We provide evidence that proton irradiation of energy 2.25 MeV on highly oriented pyrolytic graphite samples triggers ferro- or ferrimagnetism. Measurements performed with a superconducting quantum interferometer device and magnetic force microscopy reveal that the magnetic ordering is stable at room temperature.

We have studied the magnetization of various, well characterized samples of highly oriented pyrolitic graphite (HOPG), Kish graphite and natural graphite to investigate the recently reported ferromagnetic-like signal and its possible relation to ferromagnetic impurities. The magnetization results obtained for HOPG samples for applied fields parallel to the graphene layers -to minimize the diamagnetic background -show no correlation with the magnetic impurity concentration. Our overall results suggest an intrinsic origin for the ferromagnetism found in graphite. We discuss possible origins of the ferromagnetic signal.

Polarized micro-Raman measurements were performed to study the phonon modes of Fe, Sb, Al, Ga, and Li doped ZnO thin films, grown by pulsed-laser deposition on c-plane sapphire substrates. Additional modes at about 277, 511, 583, and 644 cm−1, recently assigned to N incorporation [A. Kaschner et al., Appl. Phys. Lett. 80, 1909 (2002)], were observed for Fe, Sb, and Al doped films, intentionally grown without N. The mode at 277 cm−1 occurs also for Ga doped films. These modes thus cannot be related directly to N incorporation. Instead, we suggest host lattice defects as their origin. Further additional modes at 531, 631, and 720 cm−1 seem specific for the Sb, Ga, and Fe dopants, respectively. Li doped ZnO did not reveal additional modes.

Infrared dielectric function spectra and phonon modes of high-quality, single crystalline, and highly resistive wurtzite ZnO films were obtained from infrared (300–1200 cm−1) spectroscopic ellipsometry and Raman scattering studies. The ZnO films were deposited by pulsed-laser deposition on c-plane sapphire substrates and investigated by high-resolution x-ray diffraction, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, and Rutherford backscattering experiments. The crystal structure, phonon modes, and dielectric functions are compared to those obtained from a single-crystal ZnO bulk sample. The film ZnO phonon mode frequencies are highly consistent with those of the bulk material. A small redshift of the longitudinal optical phonon mode frequencies of the ZnO films with respect to the bulk material is observed. This is tentatively assigned to the existence of vacancy point defects within the films. Accurate long-wavelength dielectric constant limits of ZnO are obtained from the infrared ellipsometry analysis and compared with previously measured near-band-gap index-of-refraction data using the Lyddane–Sachs–Teller relation. The ZnO model dielectric function spectra will become useful for future infrared ellipsometry analysis of free-carrier parameters in complex ZnO-based heterostructures.

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 π-electron system.

We have investigated the magnetic properties of pure ZnO thin films grown under N 2 pressure on a-, c-, and r-plane Al 2 O 3 substrates by pulsed-laser deposition. The substrate temperature and the N 2 pressure were varied from room temperature to 570°C and from 0.007 to 1.0 mbar, respectively. The magnetic properties of bare substrates and ZnO films were investigated by SQUID magnetometry. ZnO films grown on c-and a-plane Al 2 O 3 substrates did not show significant ferromagnetism. However, ZnO films grown on r-plane Al 2 O 3 showed reproducible ferromagnetism at 300 K when grown at 300-400°C and 0.1-1.0 mbar N 2 pressure. Positron annihilation spectroscopy measurements as well as density-functional theory calculations suggest that the ferromagnetism in ZnO films is related to Zn vacancies.

We have prepared magnetic graphite samples bombarded by protons at low temperatures and low fluences to attenuate the large thermal annealing produced during irradiation. An overall optimization of sample handling allowed us to find Curie temperatures Tc 350 K at the used fluences. The magnetization versus temperature shows unequivocally a linear dependence, which can be interpreted as due to excitations of spin waves in a two dimensional Heisenberg model with a weak uniaxial anisotropy. PACS numbers: 75.50.Pp,75.30.Ds Recent advances to develop nanographitic systems have led to a renewed interest on their electrical properties worldwide [1]. A single layer of graphite, the twodimensional (2D) graphene, appears to have quantum properties at room temperature[2] as well as rectifying electronic properties [3,4]. On the other hand, some of those properties were already observed in highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) of low mosaicity, as the quantum Hall effect[5] and de Haas -van Halphen quantum oscillations even at room temperature [6]. The twodimensional properties of the graphene planes in graphite open up the possibility of using nanometer to micron size regions of graphite in new integrated devices with spintronic properties either through the use of ferromagnetic electrodes, e.g. spin-valves, and/or making graphite itself magnetic. In fact this has been a topic of study in the last years and reports exist showing magnetic hysteresis in blank graphite [7] but especially in proton bombarded graphite [8]. Severe limitations in the sensitivity and reproducibility of standard magnetometers added to annealing effects during bombardment, hindered the identification of a critical temperature T c as well as the characteristics and dimensionality of the ferromagnetic signals. The aim of this work is to show that specially prepared highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) samples show ferromagnetic order with T c 350 K and the magnetization temperature dependence is in good agreement with a 2D anisotropic Heisenberg model (2DHM) and the presence of spin waves excitations [9,10,11].For the experiments we used four pieces of a HOPG sample grade ZYA, samples 1 to 4 (mass: 12.8, 12.5, 10.1, and 6 mg respectively) irradiated by a 2.25 MeV proton micro-beam (sample 4: 2.0 MeV, 0.8 mm broad beam) perpendicular to the graphite planes. With the micro-beam we produced several thousands of spots of ∼ 2 µm diameter each and separated by 5 µm (sample 1) or 10 µm (samples 2 and 3) distance, similarly to the procedure used in Ref. 12. Samples 1 and 2 were irradiated at 110 K whereas samples 3 and 4 at room temperature. Further irradiation parameters for sam-ple 1 (2,3,4) were: 51375 (25600,25600,6) spots, fluence: 0.124 (0.08,0.13,0.3) nC/µm 2 , total irradiated charge 46.9 (44.8,37.4,900) µC, and 1 nA proton current (100 nA for sample 4). The pieces we have irradiated showed an iron concentration (the only detected magnetic impurity) within the first 35 µm of ∼ (0.4±0.04) µg/g (< 0.1 ppm).Previous experiments [8] showed ferr...