Unconventional Magnetization below 25 K in Nitrogen-doped Diamond provides hints for the existence of Superconductivity and Superparamagnetism

Abstract

The magnetization of nitrogen-doped single crystalline diamond bulk samples shows unconventional field and temperature hysteresis loops at T ≲ 25 K. The results suggest the existence of superparamagnetic and superconducting regions in samples with nitrogen concentration <200 ppm. Both phases vanish at temperatures above 25 K where the samples show diamagnetic behavior similar to undoped diamond. The observation of superparamagnetism and superconductivity is attributed to the nitrogen doping and to the existence of defective regions. From particle-induced X-ray emission with ppm resolution we rule out that the main observations below 25 K are due to magnetic impurities. We investigated also the magnetic properties of ferromagnetic/high-temperature superconducting oxide bilayers. The magnetization results obtained from those bilayers show remarkable similarities to the ones in nitrogen-doped diamond.