We report element specific structural and magnetic investigations on ${\mathrm{Zn}}_{1-x}{\mathrm{Co}}_x\mathrm{O}$ epitaxial films using synchrotron radiation. Co dopants exclusively occupy Zn sites as revealed by x-ray linear dichroism having an unprecedented degree of structural perfection. Comparative magnetic field dependent measurements by x-ray magnetic circular dichroism and conventional magnetometry consistently show purely paramagnetic behavior for isolated Co dopant atoms with a magnetic moment of $4.8{\mu }_B$. However, the total magnetization is reduced by $\sim 30\%$, demonstrating that Co-O-Co pairs are antiferromagnetically coupled. We find no sign of intrinsic ferromagnetic interactions for isolated or paired Co dopant atoms in $\mathrm{Co}:\mathrm{ZnO}$ films.

In the field of nanomagnetism and spintronics, integral magnetometry is nowadays challenged by samples with low magnetic moments and/or low coercive fields. Commercial superconducting quantum interference device magnetometers are versatile experimental tools to magnetically characterize samples with ultimate sensitivity as well as with a high degree of automation. For realistic experimental conditions, the as-recorded magnetic signal contains several artifacts, especially if small signals are measured on top of a large magnetic background or low magnetic fields are required. In this Tutorial, we will briefly review the basic principles of magnetometry and present a representative discussion of artifacts which can occur in studying samples like soft magnetic materials as well as low moment samples. It turns out that special attention is needed to quantify and correct the residual fields of the superconducting magnet to derive useful information from integral magnetometry while pushing the limits of detection and to avoid erroneous conclusions.

Ferromagnetic topological insulators exhibit the quantum anomalous Hall effect, which is potentially useful for high‐precision metrology, edge channel spintronics, and topological qubits. The stable 2+ state of Mn enables intrinsic magnetic topological insulators. MnBi₂Te₄ is, however, antiferromagnetic with 25 K Néel temperature and is strongly n‐doped. In this work, p‐type MnSb₂Te₄, previously considered topologically trivial, is shown to be a ferromagnetic topological insulator for a few percent Mn excess. i) Ferromagnetic hysteresis with record Curie temperature of 45–50 K, ii) out‐of‐plane magnetic anisotropy, iii) a 2D Dirac cone with the Dirac point close to the Fermi level, iv) out‐of‐plane spin polarization as revealed by photoelectron spectroscopy, and v) a magnetically induced bandgap closing at the Curie temperature, demonstrated by scanning tunneling spectroscopy (STS), are shown. Moreover, a critical exponent of the magnetization β ≈ 1 is found, indicating the vicinity of a quantum critical point. Ab initio calculations reveal that Mn–Sb site exchange provides the ferromagnetic interlayer coupling and the slight excess of Mn nearly doubles the Curie temperature. Remaining deviations from the ferromagnetic order open the inverted bulk bandgap and render MnSb₂Te₄ a robust topological insulator and new benchmark for magnetic topological insulators.