Ultrathin epitaxial cobalt films on graphene for spintronic investigations and applications

Graphene is attractive for spintronics due to its long spin life time and mobility. So far only thick and polycrystalline slabs have been used as electrodes. We report the growth of flat, epitaxial ultrathin Co on graphene. These display perpendicular magnetic anisotropy in the range 0. 5-1nm, which is confirmed by theory. PMA, epitaxy and thickness bring new perspectives for graphene-based spintronic such as the zero-field control of an arbitrary magnetization direction, matching between electrodes and graphene, and interface effects such as and electric field control of magnetism.