Lucas Fernandez-Seivane

Magnetic anisotropies of late transition metal atomic clusters.

We analyze the impact of the magnetic anisotropy on the geometric structure and magnetic ordering of small atomic clusters of palladium, iridium, platinum, and gold. We have employed a noncollinear implementation of density functional theory where the spin-orbit interaction has been included self-consistently. The size of the clusters ranges from two to five, six, or seven atoms, depending on the element. Our results highlight the relevance of the spin-orbit interaction in the magnetic properties of small atomic clusters made of fourth- and fifth-row elements.

Predictions for the formation of atomic chains in mechanically controllable break-junction experiments

We analyze the stability and magnetic properties of infinite zigzag atomic chains of a large number of late third-, fourth-, and fifth-row transition-metal atoms, as well as of the group-IV elements Si, Ge, Sn, and Pb. We find that zigzag chains of third- and fourth-row elements are not stable, while those made of Si, Ge, Sn, Pb, W, Os, Ir, Pt, and Au are. These results correlate well with known data in mechanically controllable break-junction experiments (MCBJEs). We therefore conjecture that the stability of an infinite chain is at least a necessary condition for the formation of a finite-sized one in MCBJEs. We therefore predict that Sn and Os, and possibly W and Pb chains, may be found in those experiments. We also find that the bonds in Hg chains are extremely soft. We finally show that the magnetic moments and anisotropies of Ir and Pt chains show a nontrivial behavior.

Oscillating spin-density pattern in gold metallocene and phthalocyanine molecules

We present a theoretical study of the magnetic properties of dicyclopentadienyl metallocene and phthalocyanine molecules, that contain the transition metal atoms M = Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Ir, Pt and Au. Our most important prediction is that gold and copper molecules are m agnetic. We find that the magnetism of these molecules is fairly unconventional: the gold atom itself is weakly magnetic or even non-magnetic. Its role is rather to induce magnetism in the surrounding carbon and nit rogen atoms, producing a sort of spin density wave.