Room temperature ferromagnetism in bulk Mn-doped Cu2O -: art. no. 072514

Bulk Mn-doped CU2O samples were produced by reacting CU2O and Mn2O3 powders in Ar gas at 650 and 800degreesC to give a nominal composition of 1.7 at. % Mn-doped CU2O. From x-ray energy dispersive spectrum analysis, the actual doping level was lower at 0.3-0.5 at.% Mn. Room temperature ferromagnetism with a coercive field of 50 Oe was found in the 650degreesC samples. The Curie temperature (T-C) of samples sintered at 650degreesC was above 300 K, whereas for 800degreesC samples it was 215 5 K. Using the nominal doping level, the magnetization saturation value was calculated to be similar to0.4mu(B)/Mn at 10 K. (C) 2005 American Institute of Physics.