title: Direct observation of high-spin states in manganese dimer and trimer cations by x-ray magnetic circular dichroism spectroscopy in an ion trap.
abstract: The electronic structure and magnetic moments of free Mn2 (+) and Mn3 (+) are characterized by 2p x-ray absorption and x-ray magnetic circular dichroism spectroscopy in a cryogenic ion trap that is coupled to a synchrotron radiation beamline. Our results directly show that localized magnetic moments of 5 μB are created by 3d(5)((6)S) states at each ionic core, which are coupled ferromagnetically to form molecular high-spin states via indirect exchange that is mediated in both cases by a delocalized valence electron in a singly occupied 4s derived antibonding molecular orbital with an unpaired spin. This leads to total magnetic moments of 11 μB for Mn2 (+) and 16 μB for Mn3 (+), with no contribution of orbital angular momentum.
authors.affiliation: Physikalisches Institut, Universität Freiburg, Stefan-Meier-Straße 21, 79104 Freiburg, Germany.
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Zamudio-Bayer
authors.affiliation: Institut für Methoden und Instrumentierung der Forschung mit Synchrotronstrahlung, Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie GmbH, Albert-Einstein-Straße 15, 12489 Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hirsch
authors.affiliation: Institut für Methoden und Instrumentierung der Forschung mit Synchrotronstrahlung, Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie GmbH, Albert-Einstein-Straße 15, 12489 Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Langenberg
authors.affiliation: Institut für Methoden und Instrumentierung der Forschung mit Synchrotronstrahlung, Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie GmbH, Albert-Einstein-Straße 15, 12489 Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kossick
authors.affiliation: Institut für Methoden und Instrumentierung der Forschung mit Synchrotronstrahlung, Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie GmbH, Albert-Einstein-Straße 15, 12489 Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ławicki
authors.affiliation: Cluster Research Laboratory, Toyota Technological Institute, 717-86 Futamata, Ichikawa, Chiba 272-0001, Japan.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Terasaki
authors.affiliation: Physikalisches Institut, Universität Freiburg, Stefan-Meier-Straße 21, 79104 Freiburg, Germany.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: von Issendorff
authors.affiliation: Institut für Methoden und Instrumentierung der Forschung mit Synchrotronstrahlung, Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie GmbH, Albert-Einstein-Straße 15, 12489 Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: J T
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Lau