Christopher C. Beedle

Photoluminescent Mn4 Single-Molecule Magnet

The synthesis of [Mn(4)(anca)(4)(Hmdea)(2)(mdea)(2)].2CHCl(3) (1) is reported along with room temperature fluorescence, UV-vis, and NMR spectra. Direct current magnetization versus field data reveal a S = 8 ground state. Quantized steps in temperature- and field-dependent magnetization versus field hysteresis loops confirm single-molecule magnet behavior.

Coherent Manipulation and Decoherence of S = 10 Single-Molecule Magnets

We report coherent manipulation of S=10 Fe8 single-molecule magnets. The temperature dependence of the spin decoherence time T2 measured by high-frequency pulsed electron paramagnetic resonance indicates that strong spin decoherence is dominated by Fe8 spin bath fluctuations. By polarizing the spin bath in Fe8 single-molecule magnets at magnetic field B=4.6 T and temperature T=1.3 K, spin decoherence is significantly suppressed and extends the spin decoherence time T2 to as long as 712 ns. A second decoherence source is likely due to fluctuations of the nuclear spin bath. This hints that the spin decoherence time can be further extended via isotopic substitution to smaller nuclear magnetic moments.

Heterometallic Integer-Spin Analogues of S ) 9 /2 Mn4 Cubane Single-Molecule Magnets

A family of distorted heterometallic cubanes, [Mn (III) 3Ni (II)(hmp) 3O(N 3) 3(O 2CR) 3], where O 2CR (-) is benzoate ( 1), 3-phenylpropionate ( 2), 1-adamantanecarboxylate ( 3), or acetate ( 4) and hmp (-) is the anion of 2-pyridinemethanol, was synthesized and structurally as well as magnetically characterized. These complexes have a distorted-cubane core structure similar to that found in the S = 9/2 Mn 4 cubane family of complexes. Complexes 1, 3, and 4 crystallize in rhombohedral, hexagonal, and cubic space groups, respectively, and have C 3 molecular symmetry, while complex 2 crystallizes in the monoclinic space group Cc with local C 1 symmetry. Magnetic susceptibility and magnetization hysteresis measurements and high-frequency electron paramagnetic resonance (HFEPR) spectroscopy established that complexes 1-4 have S = 5 spin ground states with axial zero-field splitting (ZFS) parameters ( D) ranging from -0.20 to -0.33 cm (-1). Magnetization versus direct-current field sweeps below 1.1 K revealed hysteresis loops with magnetization relaxation, definitely indicating that complexes 1-4 are single-molecule magnets that exhibit quantum tunneling of magnetization (QTM) through an anisotropy barrier. Complex 2 exhibits the smallest coercive field and fastest magnetization tunneling rate, suggesting a significant rhombic ZFS parameter ( E), as expected from the low C 1 symmetry. This was confirmed by HFEPR spectroscopy studies on single crystals that gave the following parameter values for complex 2: gz = 1.98, gx = gy = 1.95, D = -0.17 cm (-1), B 4 (0) = -6.68 x 10 (-5) cm (-1), E = 6.68 x 10 (-3) cm (-1), and B 4 (2) = -1.00 x 10 (-4) cm (-1). Single-crystal HFEPR data for complex 1 gave g z = 2.02, gx = gy = 1.95, D = -0.23 cm (-1), and B 4 (0) = -5.68 x 10 (-5) cm (-1), in keeping with the C 3 site symmetry of this Mn 3Ni complex. The combined results highlight the importance of spin-parity effects and molecular symmetry, which determine the QTM rates.

Ferromagnetic ordering and simultaneous fast magnetization tunneling in a Ni4 single-molecule magnet.

Low-temperature heat capacity and oriented single-crystal field-cooled and zero-field-cooled magnetization data for the single-molecule magnet [Ni(hmp)(dmb)Cl](4) are presented that indicate the presence of ferromagnetic ordering at approximately 300 mK, which has little effect on the magnetization relaxation rates.

Half-Integer Spin Heptanuclear Single-Molecule Magnet with an Unusual MnIII6MnII Exchange-Coupled Core

The synthesis, X-ray crystallography, magnetic properties, and high-field electron paramagnetic resonance (HFEPR) of a new heptanuclear manganese complex [Mn(7)(heamp)(6)](ClO(4))(2)·4CH(2)Cl(2)·H(2)O (complex 2), in which heampH(3) is 2-[N,N-di(2-hydroxyethyl)aminomethyl]phenol (compound 1), is reported. Complex 2 has a hexagonal, disk-shaped topology and contains six Mn(III) ions and a central Mn(II) ion. It crystallizes in the monoclinic space group P2(1)/c with two molecular orientations. Consideration of the cluster topology, together with variable-temperature and variable-field DC magnetic susceptibility data, suggest that complex 2 exists in a half-integer, S = (19)/(2) ± 1 spin ground state, with appreciable uniaxial zero-field splitting (D = -0.16 cm(-1)). AC magnetic susceptibility measurements clearly show out-of-phase signals, which are frequency- and temperature-dependent, indicating slow magnetization relaxation behavior. An analysis of the relaxation data employing the Arrhenius formula yielded an effective relaxation barrier of 12.9 cm(-1). Simulations of HFEPR studies agree with the assignment of an S ≈ (19)/(2) spin ground state, with g = 1.96, D = -4.71 GHz (-0.16 cm(-1)), and a longitudinal fourth-order zero-field splitting parameter B(4)(0) = -2.7 × 10(-4) GHz (-9.0 × 10(-6) cm(-1)).

Radiation-and phonon-bottleneck-induced tunneling in the Fe8 single-molecule magnet

We measure magnetization changes in a single crystal of the single-molecule magnet Fe8 when exposed to intense, short (≤20 μs) pulses of microwave radiation resonant with the m = 10 to 9 transition. We find that radiation induces a phonon bottleneck in the system with a time scale of ~5 μs. The phonon bottleneck, in turn, drives the spin dynamics, allowing observation of thermally assisted resonant tunneling between spin states at the 100 ns time scale. Detailed numerical simulations quantitatively reproduce the data and yield a spin-phonon relaxation time T1~40 ns.

Collective coupling of a macroscopic number of single-molecule magnets with a microwave cavity mode.

We report the observation of strong coupling of a macroscopic ensemble of ∼1016 Fe8 molecular nanomagnets to the resonant mode of a microwave cavity. We use millimeter-wave spectroscopy to measure the splitting of the systems resonant frequency induced by the coupling between the spins and the cavity mode. The magnitude of this splitting is found to scale with √N, where N is the number of collectively coupled spins. We control N by changing the systems temperature and, thereby, the populations of the relevant spin energy levels. Strong coupling is observed for two distinct transitions between spin energy states. Our results indicate that at low temperatures nearly all of the spins in the sample couple with the cavitys resonant mode even though there is substantial inhomogeneous broadening of the Fe8 spin resonances.

Ferromagnetic exchange in a twisted, oxime-bridged [MnIII2] dimer

The dimeric complex [Mn(III)(2)(Naphth-sao)(2)(Naphth-saoH)(2)(MeOH)(2)]·4MeOH (1·4MeOH), acts as a simple model complex with which to examine the magneto-structural relationship in polymetallic, oxime-bridged Mn(III) complexes. Dc magnetic susceptibility studies reveal that ferromagnetic exchange is mediated through the heavily twisted Mn-O-N-Mn moiety (J = +1.24 cm(-1)) with magnetisation measurements at low temperatures and high fields suggesting significant anisotropy. Simulations of high field, high frequency EPR data reveal a single ion anisotropy, D((Mn(III))) = -3.94 cm(-1). Theoretical studies on simplified model complexes of 1 reveal that calculated values of the exchange coupling and the anisotropy are in excellent agreement with experiment, with the weak ferromagnetism resulting from an accidental orthogonality between the Mn-N-O plane of the first Mn(III) ion and the Jahn-Teller axis of the second Mn(III) ion.

Magnetization relaxation in the single-molecule magnet Ni4 under continuous microwave irradiation

Spin relaxation between the two lowest-lying spin-states has been studied in the S=4 single-molecule magnet Ni4 under steady-state conditions of low amplitude and continuous microwave irradiation. The relaxation rate was determined as a function of temperature at two frequencies, 10 and 27.8 GHz, by simultaneously measuring the magnetization and the absorbed microwave power. A strong temperature dependence is observed below 1.5 K, which is not consistent with a direct single-spin-phonon relaxation process. The data instead suggest that the spin relaxation is dominated by a phonon bottleneck at low temperatures and occurs by an Orbach mechanism involving excited spin-levels at higher temperatures. Experimental results are compared with detailed calculations of the relaxation rate using the universal density matrix equation.

High frequency EPR on dilute solutions of the single molecule magnet Ni4

Dilute frozen solutions of the single molecule magnet Ni(4) (S=4) have been studied using 130 GHz electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR). Despite the random orientation of the molecules, well defined EPR absorption peaks are observed due to the strong variation of the splittings between the different spin states on magnetic field. Temperature dependent studies above 4 K and comparison with simulations enable identification of the spin transitions and determination of the Hamiltonian parameters. The latter are found to be close to those of Ni(4) single crystals. No echo was detected from Ni(4) in pulsed experiments, which sets an upper bound of about 50 ns on the spin coherence time.