BARC/PUB/10//0040

 
 

Room temperature ferromagnetism in pristine MgO thin films.

 
     
 
Author(s)

Araujo, C.M.; Kapilashrami, M.; Jun, X.; Jayakumar, O.D.; Nagar, S.; Wu, Y.; Arhammar, C.; Johansson, B.; Belova, L.; Ahuja, R.; Gehring, G.A.; Rao, K.V.

ABSTRACT

Robust ferromagnetic ordering at, and well above room temperature is observed in pure transparent MgO thin films (<170 nm thick) deposited by three different techniques. Careful study of the wide scan x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy rule out the possible presence of any magnetic contaminants. In the magnetron sputtered films, we observe magnetic phase transitions as a function of film thickness. The maximum saturation magnetization of 5.7 emu/cm3 is measured on a 170 nm thick film. The films above 500 nm are found to be diamagnetic. Ab initio calculations suggest that the ferromagnetism is mediated by cation vacancies.

 
 
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