127 research outputs found
Spin quantum tunneling in single molecular magnets: fingerprints in transport spectroscopy of current and noise
We demonstrate that transport spectroscopy of single molecular magnets shows
signatures of quantum tunneling at low temperatures. We find current and noise
oscillations as function of bias voltage due to a weak violation of spin
selection rules by quantum tunneling processes. The interplay with Boltzmann
suppression factors leads to fake resonances with temperature-dependent
position which do not correspond to any charge excitation energy. Furthermore,
we find that quantum tunneling can completely suppress transport if the
easy-plane anisotropy has a high symmetry.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
Quantum tunneling induced Kondo effect in single molecular magnets
We consider transport through a single-molecule magnet strongly coupled to
metallic electrodes. We demonstrate that for half-integer spin of the molecule
electron- and spin-tunneling \emph{cooperate} to produce both quantum tunneling
of the magnetic moment and a Kondo effect in the linear conductance. The Kondo
temperature depends sensitively on the ratio of the transverse and easy-axis
anisotropies in a non-monotonic way. The magnetic symmetry of the transverse
anisotropy imposes a selection rule on the total spin for the occurrence of the
Kondo effect which deviates from the usual even-odd alternation.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Kondo-transport spectroscopy of single molecule magnets
We demonstrate that in a single molecule magnet (SMM) strongly coupled to
electrodes the Kondo effect involves all magnetic excitations. This Kondo
effect is induced by the quantum tunneling of the magnetic moment (QTM).
Importantly, the Kondo temperature can be much larger than the magnetic
splittings. We find a strong modulation of the Kondo effect as function of the
transverse anisotropy parameter or a longitudinal magnetic field. For both
integer and half-integer spin this can be used for an accurate transport
spectroscopy of the magnetic states in low magnetic fields on the order of the
easy-axis anisotropy parameter. We set up a relationship between the Kondo
effects for successive integer and half-integer spins.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure
Electron transport through single Mn12 molecular magnets
We report transport measurements through a single-molecule magnet, the Mn12
derivative [Mn12O12(O2C-C6H4-SAc)16(H2O)4], in a single-molecule transistor
geometry. Thiol groups connect the molecule to gold electrodes that are
fabricated by electromigration. Striking observations are regions of complete
current suppression and excitations of negative differential conductance on the
energy scale of the anisotropy barrier of the molecule. Transport calculations,
taking into account the high-spin ground state and magnetic excitations of the
molecule, reveal a blocking mechanism of the current involving non-degenerate
spin multiplets.Comment: Accepted for Phys. Rev. Lett., 5 pages, 4 figure
Multimodal nonlinear imaging of atherosclerotic plaques differentiation of triglyceride and cholesterol deposits
Cardiovascular diseases in general and atherothrombosis as the most common of its individual disease entities is the leading cause of death in the developed countries. Therefore, visualization and characterization of inner arterial plaque composition is of vital diagnostic interest, especially for the early recognition of vulnerable plaques. Established clinical techniques provide valuable morphological information but cannot deliver information about the chemical composition of individual plaques. Therefore, spectroscopic imaging techniques have recently drawn considerable attention. Based on the spectroscopic properties of the individual plaque components, as for instance different types of lipids, the composition of atherosclerotic plaques can be analyzed qualitatively as well as quantitatively. Here, we compare the feasibility of multimodal nonlinear imaging combining two-photon fluorescence (TPF), coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS) and second-harmonic generation (SHG) microscopy to contrast composition and morphology of lipid deposits against the surrounding matrix of connective tissue with diffraction limited spatial resolution. In this contribution, the spatial distribution of major constituents of the arterial wall and atherosclerotic plaques like elastin, collagen, triglycerides and cholesterol can be simultaneously visualized by a combination of nonlinear imaging methods, providing a powerful label-free complement to standard histopathological methods with great potential for in vivo application
Crossover from Kondo assisted suppression to co-tunneling enhancement of tunneling magnetoresistance via ferromagnetic nanodots in MgO tunnel barriers
Recently, it has been shown that magnetic tunnel junctions with thin MgO
tunnel barriers exhibit extraordinarily high tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR)
values at room temperature1, 2. However, the physics of spin dependent
tunneling through MgO barriers is only beginning to be unravelled. Using planar
magnetic tunnel junctions in which ultra-thin layers of magnetic metals are
deposited in the middle of a MgO tunnel barrier here we demonstrate that the
TMR is strongly modified when these layers are discontinuous and composed of
small pancake shaped nanodots. At low temperatures, in the Coulomb blockade
regime, for layers less than ~1 nm thick, the conductance of the junction is
increased at low bias consistent with Kondo assisted tunneling. In the same
regime we observe a suppression of the TMR. For slightly thicker layers, and
correspondingly larger nanodots, the TMR is enhanced at low bias, consistent
with co-tunneling.Comment: Nano Letters (in press
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