AVS 63rd International Symposium & Exhibition
    Scanning Probe Microscopy Focus Topic Tuesday Sessions
       Session SP+AS+MI+NS+SS-TuA

Paper SP+AS+MI+NS+SS-TuA12
Many-body Interaction induced Spin-split States of Single Vacancy in Graphite

Tuesday, November 8, 2016, 6:00 pm, Room 104A

Session: Probing Spin-Dependent Phenomena
Presenter: Wonhee Ko, Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology, Republic of Korea
Authors: W. Ko, Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology, Republic of Korea
H.W. Kim, Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology
Y. Cho, Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology
Y. Kuk, Seoul National University, Korea, Republic of Korea
S.W. Hwang, Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology
Correspondent: Click to Email
Although carbon atoms have no magnetic states, it has been known that defects in graphene or graphite can have magnetic states induced by many-body interaction. By utilizing ultra-low-temperature scanning tunneling microscopy, we observed the spin-split states of single vacancy in graphite, which is a hallmark of magnetic states. Evolution of the spin splitting in the magnetic field did not follow the Zeeman effect of single electron states, and can be explained only when we consider electron-electron interaction. Quantitative analysis showed that the strength of the electron-electron interaction is in the range of 1~3 meV. Our observation implies that the simplest defect in graphite like single vacancy can behave as magnetic, which would be an important ingredient for development of carbon-based spintronic devices.