Magnetism at the interface of non-magnetic Cu and C₆₀

The signature of magnetism without a ferromagnet in a non-magnetic heterostructure is novel as well as fascinating from a fundamental research point of view. It has been shown by Al'Mari et al. that magnetism can be induced at the interface of Cu/C₆₀ due to a change in the density of states. However, the quantification of such an interfacial magnetic moment has not been performed yet. In order to quantify the induced magnetic moment in Cu, we have performed X-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) measurements on Cu/C₆₀ multilayers. We have observed room temperature ferromagnetism in the Cu/C₆₀ stack. Further XMCD measurements show that a ∼0.01 μ_B per atom magnetic moment has been induced in Cu at the Cu/C₆₀ interface.