LAUSR

Abstract A model is presented to explain the temperature-independent saturating paramagnetic response of some transparent oxides with no unpaired d-electrons. It is based on an array of N surface defect-related electrons with bound states in the gap that can form a coherent mesoscopic many-electron state in response to fluctuations of the zero-point electromagnetic field. Individual electronic orbits expand by 0.083 pm, as in the theory of the Lamb shift, and these expansions add to produce a global volume change. This modifies the energy density in the zero-point electromagnetic field, thereby lowering the energy per electron sufficiently to stabilize a coherent multi-electron state of the two-dimensional system at room temperature. A net magnetic moment can be induced by an applied magnetic field, which mixes coherent ground and excited states, producing a paramagnetic orbital magnetization of magnitude M = M S x 1 + x 2 , where x is proportional to the applied field. Orbital saturation moments per coherent surface electron range from 10 - 3 to 10 - 1 Bohr magnetons.