  Here we report spin- and angle-resolved photoemission studies of the inert
graphene layer formed on the surface of a ferromagnetic material, Ni(111).
X-ray photoemission and spin-resolved spectroscopy of secondary electrons
reveal that graphene behaves like a protection layer on the Ni(111) surface
preventing its reaction with adsorbed oxygen. Angle-resolved photoelectron
spectroscopy of $\pi$ states of graphene on Ni(111) shows a strong dependence
of binding energy of these states on the direction of magnetization of the
sample. We conclude that the observed extraordinary high "splitting" up to 225
meV of the $\pi$ band in the graphene layer is a manifes-tation of the Rashba
effect which provides a direct possibility to a flexible control of an electron
spin in a graphene-based spin-FET.
