Université de Strasbourg , CNRS, IPCMS, UMR 7504, F-67000 Strasbourg, France.
Département de Chimie, ENS-CNRS-UPMC UMR 8640, Ecole Normale Supérieure , 75005 Paris, France.
Nano Lett. 2017 Mar 8;17(3):1877-1882. doi: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.6b05204. Epub 2017 Feb 22.
Inelastic electron tunneling spectroscopy (IETS) within the junction of a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) uses current-driven spin-flip excitations for an all-electrical characterization of the spin state of a single object. Usually decoupling layers between the single object, atom or molecule, and the supporting surface are needed to observe these excitations. Here we study the surface magnetism of a sandwich nickelocene molecule (Nc) adsorbed directly on Cu(100) by means of X-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) and density functional theory (DFT) calculations and show with IETS that it exhibits an exceptionally efficient spin-flip excitation. The molecule preserves its magnetic moment and magnetic anisotropy not only on Cu(100), but also in different metallic environments including the tip apex. By taking advantage of this robusteness, we are able to functionalize the microscope tip with a Nc, which can be employed as a portable source of inelastic excitations as exemplified by a double spin-flip excitation process.
在扫描隧道显微镜（STM）结中的非弹性电子隧道谱（IETS）利用电流驱动的自旋翻转激发，实现了单个物体自旋态的全电特性化。通常需要在单个物体（原子或分子）与支撑表面之间使用解耦层来观察这些激发。在这里，我们通过 X 射线磁圆二色性（XMCD）和密度泛函理论（DFT）计算研究了直接吸附在 Cu(100)上的三明治镍（Nc）分子的表面磁性，并通过 IETS 表明它表现出异常高效的自旋翻转激发。该分子不仅在 Cu(100)上保留了其磁矩和磁各向异性，而且在包括针尖在内的不同金属环境中也保留了其磁矩和磁各向异性。利用这种稳健性，我们能够用 Nc 功能化显微镜针尖，它可以作为非弹性激发的便携式源，例如双自旋翻转激发过程。
