Isolated hydrogen atoms absorbed on graphene are predicted to induce magnetic moments. Here we demonstrate that the adsorption of a single hydrogen atom on graphene induces a magnetic moment characterized by a ~20 meV spin-split state at the Fermi energy. Our scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) experiments, complemented by first-principles calculations, show that such a spin-polarized state is essentially localized on the carbon sublattice complementary to the one where the H atom is chemisorbed. This atomically modulated spin-texture, which extends several nanometers away from the H atom, drives the direct coupling between the magnetic moments at unusually long distances. Using the STM tip to manipulate H atoms with atomic precision, we demonstrate the possibility to tailor the magnetism of selected graphene regions.
@article{arxiv.2009.13150,
title = {Atomic-scale control of graphene magnetism using hydrogen atoms},
author = {H. González-Herrero and J. M. Gómez-Rodríguez and P. Mallet and M. Moaied and J. J. Palacios and C. Salgado and M. M. Ugeda and J. Y. Veuillen and F. Yndurain and I. Brihuega},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2009.13150},
year = {2020}
}