Observation of intrinsic magnetic domains in C60 polymer Original Research Article

A C60 polymer has been characterized for the first time with respect to impurity content and ferromagnetic properties by laterally resolved particle induced X-ray emission (PIXE), superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) and magnetic force microscopy (MFM) in order to detect intrinsic ferromagnetic domains. In parts of the pure regions (concentration of magnetic impurities <1 μg/g), we found stripe-domain magnetic images with different orientations of domain magnetization. The size of the regions where magnetic domains were observed is ∼30% of the pure region. All these results reveal that the polymerized C60 sample is a mixture of magnetic and non-magnetic parts and only a fraction of the sample contributes to the ferromagnetism.