Localized magnetic states in graphene

Abstract

We examine the conditions necessary for the presence of localized magnetic moments on adatoms with inner shell electrons in graphene. We show that the low density of states at the Dirac point, and the anomalous broadening of the adatom electronic level, lead to the formation of magnetic moments for arbitrarily small local charging energy. As a result, we obtain an anomalous scaling of the boundary separating magnetic and nonmagnetic states. We show that, unlike any other material, the formation of magnetic moments can be controlled by an electric field effect. © 2008 The American Physical Society.