Incorporating magnetism into the long list of graphene capabilities has been pursued since the material was first isolated in 2004. The use of spin as an additional degree of freedom would represent a tremendous boost to the versatility of the graphene based devices, offering enormous potential for future spintronic applications.
We have shown, for the first time, how the absorption of single H atoms on graphene magnetizes the graphene regions around them. In contrast to common magnetic materials, where the magnetic moments are localized in a few angstroms, the induced graphene magnetic moments extend over several nanometers and present an atomically modulated spin texture.
Science, 352, 437 (2016) Article; Perspective; Video
Spin split state induced by atomic H on graphene.
Isolated hydrogen atoms absorbed on graphene were predicted to induce magnetic moments. We demonstrate that the adsorption of a single hydrogen atom on graphene induces a magnetic moment characterized by a ~20 meV spin-split state at the Fermi energy
Manipulation of graphene local magnetic moments by STM
Our measurements prove that the induced magnetic moments couple strongly at very long distances following a particular rule: magnetic moments sum-up or neutralize critically depending on the relative H-H adsorption sites. Furthermore, we achieve the controlled manipulation of single H atoms, which enable us to selectively tune the collective magnetic properties of chosen graphene regions.