678 research outputs found
Measurement of Magnetization Dynamics in Single-Molecule Magnets Induced by Pulsed Millimeter-Wave Radiation
We describe an experiment aimed at measuring the spin dynamics of the Fe8
single-molecule magnet in the presence of pulsed microwave radiation. In
earlier work, heating was observed after a 0.2-ms pulse of intense radiation,
indicating that the spin system and the lattice were out of thermal equilibrium
at millisecond time scale [Bal et al., Europhys. Lett. 71, 110 (2005)]. In the
current work, an inductive pick-up loop is used to probe the photon-induced
magnetization dynamics between only two levels of the spin system at much
shorter time scales (from ns to us). The relaxation time for the magnetization,
induced by a pulse of radiation, is found to be on the order of 10 us.Comment: 3 RevTeX pages, including 3 eps figures. The paper will appear in the
Journal of Applied Physics as MMM'05 conference proceeding
Tunneling Splittings in Mn12-Acetate Single Crystals
A Landau-Zener multi-crossing method has been used to investigate the tunnel
splittings in high quality Mn-acetate single crystals in the pure
quantum relaxation regime and for fields applied parallel to the magnetic easy
axis. With this method several individual tunneling resonances have been
studied over a broad range of time scales. The relaxation is found to be
non-exponential and a distribution of tunnel splittings is inferred from the
data. The distributions suggest that the inhomogeneity in the tunneling rates
is due to disorder that produces a non-zero mean value of the average
transverse anisotropy, such as in a solvent disorder model. Further, the effect
of intermolecular dipolar interaction on the magnetic relaxation has been
studied.Comment: Europhysics Letters (in press). 7 pages, including 3 figure
More Evidence for a Distribution of Tunnel Splittings in Mn-acetate
In magnetic fields applied parallel to the anisotropy axis, the magnetization
of Mn has been measured in response to a field that is swept back and
forth across the resonances corresponding to steps . The fraction
of molecules remaining in the metastable well after each sweep through the
resonance is inconsistent with expectations for an ensemble of identical
molecules. The data are consistent instead with the presence of a broad
distribution of tunnel splittings. A very good fit is obtained for a Gaussian
distribution of the second-order anisotropy tunneling parameter . We show that dipolar shuffling is a negligible effect which cannot
explain our data.Comment: minor corrections (PACS nos, signs in Fig. 2
Non-equilibrium Magnetization Dynamics in the Fe_8 Single-Molecule Magnet Induced by High-Intensity Microwave Radiation
Resonant microwave radiation applied to a single crystal of the molecular
magnet Fe_8 induces dramatic changes in the sample's magnetization. Transitions
between excited states are found even though at the nominal system temperature
these levels have negligible population. We find evidence that the sample heats
significantly when the resonance condition is met. In addition, heating is
observed after a short pulse of intense radiation has been turned off,
indicating that the spin system is out of equilibrium with the lattice.Comment: Version to appear in Europhysics Letters. Minor changes and updated
reference
Experimental Upper Bound on Superradiance Emission from Mn12 Acetate
We used a Josephson junction as a radiation detector to look for evidence of
the emission of electromagnetic radiation during magnetization avalanches in a
crystal assembly of Mn_12-Acetate. The crystal assembly exhibits avalanches at
several magnetic fields in the temperature range from 1.8 to 2.6 K with
durations of the order of 1 ms. Although a recent study shows evidence of
electromagnetic radiation bursts during these avalanches [J. Tejada, et al.,
Appl. Phys. Lett. {\bf 84}, 2373 (2004)], we were unable to detect any
significant radiation at well-defined frequencies. A control experiment with
external radiation pulses allows us to determine that the energy released as
radiation during an avalanche is less than 1 part in 10^4 of the total energy
released. In addition, our avalanche data indicates that the magnetization
reversal process does not occur uniformly throughout the sample.Comment: 4 RevTeX pages, 3 eps figure
Abrupt Transition between Thermally-Activated Relaxation and Quantum Tunneling in a Molecular Magnet
We report Hall sensor measurements of the magnetic relaxation of Mn
acetate as a function of magnetic field applied along the easy axis of
magnetization. Data taken at a series of closely-spaced temperatures between
0.24 K and 1.4 K provide strong new evidence for an abrupt ``first-order''
transition between thermally-assisted relaxation and magnetic decay via quantum
tunneling.Comment: 4 pages, including 7 figure
- …