Browsing by Subject "Single Molecule Magnet"
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Item Alignment of micro-crystals of Mn12-acetate and direct observation of single molecules thereof(2009-05-15) Seo, DongminThis dissertation focuses on three separate studies. First, magnetization of the Mn12- acetate was studied by low temperature hysteresis loops and DC magnetization data on magnetically aligned Mn12-acetate micro-crystals. Secondly, Mn12-acetate thin films were fabricated and characterized by AFM and STM. Finally, magnetization of the film material was also studied. Enhanced alignment of Mn12-acetate micro-crystals as compared to prior studies was verified by observation of several sharp steps in low temperature hysteresis loops. It was found that ~ 0.5 T is sufficient to orient the micro-crystals in an organic solvent to a degree comparable to a single crystal. The degree of the alignment was controlled by varying the magnetic field at room temperature and during the cooling process. Subsequently, low temperature hysteresis loops and DC magnetizations were measured for each prepared orientation state of a sample. The high temperature magnetic anisotropy responsible for the alignment could not be measured, possibly due to its small magnitude. Mn12-acetate was deposited onto Si/SiO2 by a solution evaporation method. Atomic force microscopy studies revealed that 2 nm thick films of molecular level smoothness were formed. Mn12-acetate was also deposited onto a Highly Ordered Pyrolytic Graphite (HOPG) surface for scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) studies. A self-assembled triangular lattice was observed in the Mn12-acetate thin films by STM at room temperature under ambient conditions. These STM images show typical center to center intermolecular separations of about 6.3 nm and height corrugation of less than 0.5 nm. Magnetization measurements were not successful in Mn12-acetate thin films due to the small amount of material in the film and the large background signal from the substrate. Therefore, a sample for the magnetization measurements, called ?film material?, was made by evaporating a dilute solution of Mn12-acetate powder in acetonitrile. Significant changes in magnetic properties of the film material were observed from magnetization measurements. The blocking temperature of the film material was found to increase to TB > 10 K at low magnetic fields.Item An Experimental Study of Mn12-Family Molecular Magnets in Isolation with High Spatial Resolution(2014-12-17) Reaves, Kelley ThomasI report my studies of Mn12O12(C6H5COO)16(H2O)4, which will be referred to as Mn12-Ph, a single molecule magnet, on Cu(111) and HOPG (highly oriented pyrolytic graphite) surfaces by scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). A technique of vacuum spray injection for room temperature deposition of films of a tunable density, between very diffuse isolated molecules and complete surface coverage, onto sample substrates was developed and used to create sub-monolayer films of Mn12-Ph on Cu(111) for low temperature observation. Scanning tunneling spectroscopy (STS) of samples at low temperatures produced insights into the local density of states (LDOS) with a high degree of precision with spatial location (X,Y,Z) and energy (eV).These spectroscopic data were analyzed and compared to results in the literature from competing groups. A theoretical model of spinstability in an interacting graph of spins was developed and simulations were carried out to find a weak topological invariant to perturbation of a given spinstate for a class of ferromagnetically interacting spingraphs. A phenomenological (post hoc) model built upon poor coupling between the molecule's wave function and the Cu surface wave function is proposed to explain the spectroscopic data. Normalized (to the Cu background) junction impedance is calculated and compared in different regions of the molecular interior to form a better view of the evolution of the tunnel junction current with respect to applied bias voltage.