Delgado Acosta, Fernando, Fernández-Rossier, Joaquín
Inelastic electron tunneling spectroscopy of a Mn dimer
DELGADO, F.; FERNÁNDEZ-ROSSIER, J. “Inelastic electron tunneling spectroscopy of a Mn dimer”. Acta Physica Polonica A. Vol. 122, No. 2 (Aug. 2012). ISSN 0587-4246, pp. 304-306
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10045/25278
DOI: 
ISSN: 0587-4246 (Print)
Abstract: 
A scanning tunneling microscope can probe the inelastic spin excitations of single magnetic atoms in a surface via spin-flip assisted tunneling. A particular and intriguing case is the Mn dimer case. We show here that the existing theories for inelastic transport spectroscopy do not explain the observed spin transitions when both atoms are equally coupled to the scanning tunneling microscope tip and the substrate, the most likely experimental situation. The hyperfine coupling to the nuclear spins is shown to lead to a finite excitation amplitude, but the physical mechanism leading to the large inelastic signal observed is still unknown. We discuss some other alternatives that break the symmetry of the system and allow for larger excitation probabilities.
Keywords:Inelastic electron tunneling spectroscopy, Single magnetic atoms, Mn dimer
Polish Academy of Sciences. Institute of Physics
info:eu-repo/semantics/article