Light Control of Ferromagnetism in ZnO Films on Pt Substrate at Room Temperature

The control of ferromagnetism by light at room temperature is essential for the development of some optical-magnetic coupling devices, data storage and quantum computation techniques. In the present work, we demonstrate that the ferromagnetism of a semiconducting ZnO film on Pt substrate can be controlled by nonpolarized ultraviolet or violet light. The illumination of light with sufficiently high frequency photons could excite photogenerated electron-hole pairs in the semiconducting ZnO film. The amount of oxygen vacancies in the ZnO film and the appearance of built-in electric field due to the heterostructured ZnO/Pt may play important roles in the light-induced changes in the ferromagnetism of the ZnO film.