This study provides conclusive evidence of room temperature ferromagnetism in Co-doped amorphous carbon (a-C) composites from the spin polarized semiconductor band. These composites are constructed from discontinuous [Co(3 nm)/a-C(dc nm)]5 multilayers with dc = 3 nm and dc = 6 nm. Only remnant circular dichroism (CD) was observed from the dc = 3 nm sample but not when dc = 6 nm. In addition, the remnant CD peaks at 5.5 eV, which is comparable with the absorption peak associated with the C σ-σ* gap transition. We suggest that the possible mechanism for this coupling can be considered as a magnetic proximity effect in which a ferromagnetic moment in the C medium is induced by Co/C interfaces.
This study examines sizeable magnetic circular dichroism (MCD) in Co(20%)-doped amorphous carbon (a-C) films. While as-grown films exhibit a non-detectable MCD signal, films that undergo rapid thermal annealing (RTA) at 600°C in a vacuum yield broad MCD spectra with a large amplitude of ∼3.9 × 104 deg/cm in saturation field 0.78 T at the σ-σ* gap transition (∼5.5 eV). In such films after RTA, the metastable Co-C bonding is decomposed and suitable Co nanoparticles/a-C interfaces are thus formed. Our results indicate that the large change in MCD is contributed from Co nanoparticles and associated with the spin-dependent electronic structure at the Co/a-C interfaces
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