Spontaneous spin polarization and spin pumping effect on edges of graphene antidot lattices.

The zigzag-type atomic structure at edges of graphenes theoretically produces flat energy band. Because electrons have infinite effective mass at the flat band, they localize at zigzag edges with high densities. The localized electron spins are spontaneously polarized due to mutual Coulomb interaction in spite of a material consisting of only carbon atom with sp2 bonds. However, in most experimental studies, spin polarization (such as ferromagnetism) has been observed in defect-related carbon systems. Here, we fabricate honeycomb-like arrays of low-defect hexagonal antidots (nanopores) terminated by hydrogen atoms on graphenes. They are prepared by a non-lithographic method using nanoporous alumina templates. We find large-magnitude ferromagnetism arising from polarized electron spins localizing at the zigzag antidot edges. Moreover, weak hysteresis loop in magnetoresistance and also spin pumping effect are found for perpendicular and parallel magnetic fields applied to the few-layer antidot lattices with larger inter-antidot space. These promise to be a realization of rare-element free magnets and also novel spintronic devices such as all-carbon spin transistors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]