  Ferromagnetism has been reported recently in La-doped alkaline-earth
hexaborides, A1-xLaxB6 (A=Ca, Sr, and Ba). We have performed the reflectivity,
Hall resistivity, and magnetization measurements of A1-xLaxB6. The results
indicate that A1-xLaxB6 can be regarded as a simple doped semimetal, with no
signature of an excitonic state as suggested by several theories. It is also
found that the surface of as-grown samples (10 micrometer in thickness) has a
different electronic structure from a bulk one, and a fairly large number of
paramagnetic moments are confined in this region. After eliminating these
paramagnetic moments at the surface, we could not find any evidence of an
intrinsic ferromagnetic moment in our samples, implying the possibility that
the ferromagnetism of A1-xLaxB6 reported so far is neither intrinsic.

Strongly Correlated Electrons