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Tunnelling spectra of individual magnetic endofullerene molecules

Nature Materials volume 7, pages 884–889 (2008)Cite this article

Abstract

The manipulation of single magnetic molecules may enable new strategies for high-density information storage and quantum-state control. However, progress in these areas depends on developing techniques for addressing individual molecules and controlling their spin. Here, we report success in making electrical contact to individual magnetic N@C60 molecules and measuring spin excitations in their electron tunnelling spectra. We verify that the molecules remain magnetic by observing a transition as a function of magnetic field that changes the spin quantum number and also the existence of non-equilibrium tunnelling originating from low-energy excited states. From the tunnelling spectra, we identify the charge and spin states of the molecule. The measured spectra can be reproduced theoretically by accounting for the exchange interaction between the nitrogen spin and electron(s) on the C60 cage.

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Figure 1: Device geometry and the spin states of N@C60.
Figure 2: Colour-scale plots of differential conductance (dI/dV) for N@C60 and C60 SMTs.
Figure 3: Colour-scale plots of differential conductance (dI/dV) as a function of bias voltage and gate voltage at zero applied field (B=0 T).
Figure 4: Numerical calculation of the tunnelling spectrum for N@C60, with parameters chosen to mimic the data for device 1.

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Acknowledgements

We thank R. Döring and O. Bäßler for their work to synthesize and purify the N@C60 and G. R. Hutchison for help with calculations. The research at Cornell was supported by the US NSF (DMR-0520404, DMR-0605742, EEC-0646547, CHE-0403806 and through use of the Cornell Nanofabrication Facility/NNIN). Work in Berlin was supported by the Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung under contract no. 03N8709.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Atomic and Solid State Physics, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, USA

    Jacob E. Grose, Eugenia S. Tam, Joshua J. Parks & Daniel C. Ralph

  2. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas 66045, USA

    Carsten Timm

  3. Institut für Experimentalphysik, Freie Universität Berlin, Arnimallee 14, 14195 Berlin, Germany

    Michael Scheloske & Wolfgang Harneit

  4. Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, USA

    Burak Ulgut & Héctor D. Abruña

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  1. Jacob E. Grose
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Contributions

J.E.G. had the primary role in fabricating the samples, carrying out the measurements and analysing the data, with assistance from E.S.T. and J.J.P. and advice from D.C.R. C.T. carried out the model calculations. M.S. and W.H. led the molecular synthesis, purification and characterization. B.U. and H.D.A. carried out electrochemical characterization. All of the authors contributed to the data analysis and the preparation of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Daniel C. Ralph.

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Grose, J., Tam, E., Timm, C. et al. Tunnelling spectra of individual magnetic endofullerene molecules. Nature Mater 7, 884–889 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat2300

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