Hydrogen distribution of ferromagnetic microstructures in carbon created by proton microbeam irradiation

Full text: Ferromagnetic microstructures can be produced in highly orientated pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) by MeV proton microbeam irradiation. The origin of the strong ferromagnetism is not yet understood. New theoretical models as well as negative results of MeV alpha irradiation indicate that the implanted hydrogen plays a major role. Necessary information for this are the stability of the hydrogen atoms at different implanted doses as well as the virgin hydrogen content. Therefore, the microscopic distribution of the implanted hydrogen was investigated using sensitive three dimensional hydrogen microscopy by coincident proton-proton-scattering. Copyright (2005) Australian Institute of Physics