Magnetism in amorphous carbon

Abstract

We investigate magnetism in amorphous carbon as suggested by the recently reported ferromagnetism in a new form of amorphous carbon. We use spin constrained first-principles simulations to obtain amorphous carbon structures with the desired magnetization. We show that the existence of $sp^2$-like 3-fold coordinated carbon atoms plays an important role in obtaining magnetism in amorphous carbon. The detailed geometries of 3-fold carbon atoms induce the magnetic order in amorphous carbon.