Superconductivity and unusual magnetic behavior in amorphous carbon

Traces of superconductivity (SC) at elevated temperatures (up to 65 K) were observed by magnetic measurements in three different inhomogeneous sulfur doped amorphous carbon (a-C) systems: (a) in commercial and (b) synthesized powders and (c) in a-C thin films. (a) Studies performed on a commercial (a-C) powder, which contains 0.21% sulfur, revealed traces of non-percolated superconducting phases below T c = 65 K. The SC volume fraction is enhanced by the sulfur doping. (b) The a-C powder obtained by pyrolytic decomposition of sucrose did not show any sign of SC above 5 K. This powder was mixed with sulfur and synthesized at 400 °C (a-CS). The inhomogeneous products obtained show traces of SC phases at T c = 17 and 42 K. (c) Non-superconducting composite a-C-W thin films were grown by electron-beam induced deposition. SC emerged at T c = 34.4 K only after heat treatment with sulfur. Other parts of the pyrolytic a-CS powder show unusual magnetic features. (i) Pronounced irreversible peaks around 55–75 K appear in the first zero-field-cooled (ZFC) sweep only. Their origin is not known. (ii) Unexpectedly, these peaks are totally suppressed in the second ZFC runs measured a few minutes later. (iii) Around the peak position the field-cooled (FC) curves cross the ZFC plots (ZFC > FC). These peculiar magnetic observations are also ascribed to an a-CS powder prepared from the commercial a-C powder and are connected to each other. All SC and magnetic phenomena observed are intrinsic properties of the sulfur doped a-C materials. It is proposed that the a-CS systems behave similarly to well-known high T c curates and/or pnictides in which SC emerges from magnetic states.