Dirac Electron Behavior for Spin-Up Electrons in Strongly Interacting Graphene on Ferromagnetic Mn₅Ge₃

An elegant approach for the synthesis of graphene on the strong ferromagnetic (FM) material Mn₅Ge₃ is proposed via intercalation of Mn in the graphene-Ge(111) interface. According to the density functional theory calculations, graphene in this strongly interacting system demonstrates the large exchange splitting of the graphene-derived π band. In this case, only spin-up electrons in graphene preserve the Dirac-electron-like character in the vicinity of the Fermi level and the K point, whereas such behavior is not detected for the spin-down electrons. This unique feature of the studied gr-FM-Mn₅Ge₃ interface that can be prepared on the semiconducting Ge can lead to its application in spintronics.