Evidence for spin-flip scattering and local moments in dilute fluorinated graphene

The issue of whether local magnetic moments can be formed by introducing adatoms into graphene is of intense research interest because it opens the window to fundamental studies of magnetism in graphene, as well as of its potential spintronics applications. To investigate this question we measure, by exploiting the well-established weak localization physics, the phase coherence length L_phi in dilute fluorinated graphene. L_phi reveals an unusual saturation below ~ 10 K, which cannot be explained by non-magnetic origins. The corresponding phase breaking rate increases with decreasing carrier density and increases with increasing fluorine density. These results provide strong evidence for spin-flip scattering and points to the existence of adatom-induced local magnetic moment in fluorinated graphene. Our results will stimulate further investigations of magnetism and spintronics applications in adatom-engineered graphene.