Sources of experimental errors in the observation of nanoscale magnetism

TL;DR

This paper reviews potential sources of experimental errors in detecting nanoscale magnetism, emphasizing the importance of accounting for spurious signals that can affect measurements of very small magnetic signals in non-magnetic materials.

Contribution

It identifies and summarizes key sources of experimental errors specific to nanoscale magnetic measurements, aiding accurate observation of nanomagnetism.

Findings

Small magnetic signals are susceptible to spurious effects.

Proper experimental controls are essential for reliable nanoscale magnetic measurements.

Surface and size effects can mimic magnetic behavior in non-magnetic nanomaterials.

Abstract

It has been recently reported that some non-magnetic materials in bulk state, exhibit magnetic behavior at the nanscale due to surface and size effects. The experimental observation of these effects is based on the measurement of very small magnetic signals. Thus, some spurious effects that are not critical for bulk materials with large magnetic signals may become important when measuring small signals (typically below 0.0001 emu). Here, we summarize some sources of these small magnetic signals that should be considered when studying this new nanomagnetism