X-ray magnetic circular dichroism study of gold nanoparticles protected by polymer

Abstract Bulk Au metal is chemically stable and has diamagnetic properties. However, these properties might be different in nano-sized region. This article reports that the direct observation of spontaneous spin polarization of Au nanoparticles employing X-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD). Magnetization estimated by XMCD shows a good agreement with the results obtained by DC magnetization. This result evidences the intrinsic spin polarization in nano-sized material.