title: The quantum magnetism of individual manganese-12-acetate molecular magnets anchored at surfaces.
abstract: The high intrinsic spin and long spin relaxation time of manganese-12-acetate (Mn(12)) makes it an archetypical single molecular magnet. While these characteristics have been measured on bulk samples, questions remain whether the magnetic properties replicate themselves in surface supported isolated molecules, a prerequisite for any application. Here we demonstrate that electrospray ion beam deposition facilitates grafting of intact Mn(12) molecules on metal as well as ultrathin insulating surfaces enabling submolecular resolution imaging by scanning tunneling microscopy. Using scanning tunneling spectroscopy we detect spin excitations from the magnetic ground state of the molecule at an ultrathin boron nitride decoupling layer. Our results are supported by density functional theory based calculations and establish that individual Mn(12) molecules retain their intrinsic spin on a well chosen solid support.
authors.affiliation: Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research, Heisenbergstrasse 1, D-70569 Stuttgart, Germany.
authors.forename: Steffen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kahle
authors.forename: Zhitao
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Deng
authors.forename: Nikola
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Malinowski
authors.forename: Charlène
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Tonnoir
authors.forename: Alicia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Forment-Aliaga
authors.forename: Nicha
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Thontasen
authors.forename: Gordon
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Rinke
authors.forename: Duy
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Le
authors.forename: Volodymyr
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Turkowski
authors.forename: Talat S
authors.initials: TS
authors.lastname: Rahman
authors.forename: Stephan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rauschenbach
authors.forename: Markus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ternes
authors.forename: Klaus
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kern
mesh_terms: D000085:Acetates / Q000737:chemistry*; D046911:Macromolecular Substances / Q000737:chemistry; D060526:Magnetic Fields; D059346:Magnets; D008345:Manganese / Q000737:chemistry*; D008422:Materials Testing; D008968:Molecular Conformation; D049329:Nanostructures / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D010316:Particle Size; D013499:Surface Properties
chemical_list: D000085:Acetates; D046911:Macromolecular Substances; D008345:Manganese