Spin Shuttles

The project "Spin shuttles" investigates molecules with unpaired electron spins in view of their performance in
molecular spintronics.
Spin shuttle is a term coined for endofullerene molecules that encage and protect an atom or molecule with an open electron shell.
Such molecules are candidates for single molecule magnets and have a great potential as building blocks in molecular spintronics.
A single molecule magnet is a single molecule that retains its magnetization direction for a long period of time, i.e. displays hysteresis.
The first single molecule magnet spin shuttle was Dy2ScN@C80.
Our experiments cover magnetic characterization of the electronic ground state with magnetometry and x-ray circular dichroism (XMCD).
The structure of the molecules on surfaces is investigated by x-ray photoelectron diffraction (XPD),
also with resonant excitation (RXPD) and tunneling microscopy (STM) and spectroscopy (STS).
In collaboration with Dr. Matthias Muntwiler and Dr. Cinthia Piamontheze, PSI Villigen and Dr. Alexey Popov, IFW Dresden.
Team
- Prof. Thomas Greber
- Christian Hanisch
- Wei Chuang Lee
Latest publications
- Synthesis of a magnetic π-extended carbon nanosolenoid with Riemann surfaces
Nature Comm. 13, 1239 (2022)
→ DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-28870-z - Precise measurement of angles between two magnetic moments and their configurational stability in single-molecule magnets
Phys. Rev. B 104, 224401 (2021)
→ DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevB.104.224401 - Ferromagnetic insulating epitaxially strained La2NiMnO6 thin films grown by sputter deposition
APL Materials 9, 081111 (2021)
→ DOI: 10.1063/5.0055614 - Gadolinium as an accelerator for reaching thermal equilibrium and its influence on the ground state of Dy2GdN@C80 single-molecule magnets
Phys. Rev. B, 103, 014404 (2021)
→ DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevB.103.014404 [arXiv] - Magnetic hysteresis and strong ferromagneticcoupling of sulfur-bridged Dy ions inclusterfullerene Dy2S@C82
Inorganic Chemistry Frontiers, 7, 3521 (2020)
→ DOI: 10.1039/d0qi00771d - ...[→ more publications]