Spin-orbit coupled molecular quantum magnetism realized in inorganic solid.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 27650796.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/ncomms12912 and PMC identifier 5035996.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Molecular quantum magnetism involving an isolated spin state is of particular interest due to the characteristic quantum phenomena underlying spin qubits or molecular spintronics for quantum information devices, as demonstrated in magnetic metal-organic molecular systems, the so-called molecular magnets. Here we report the molecular quantum magnetism realized in an inorganic solid Ba3Yb2Zn5O11 with spin-orbit coupled pseudospin-½ Yb(3+) ions. The magnetization represents the magnetic quantum values of an isolated Yb4 tetrahedron with a total (pseudo)spin 0, 1 and 2. Inelastic neutron scattering results reveal that a large Dzyaloshinsky-Moriya interaction originating from strong spin-orbit coupling of Yb 4f is a key ingredient to explain magnetic excitations of the molecular magnet states. The Dzyaloshinsky-Moriya interaction allows a non-adiabatic quantum transition between avoided crossing energy levels, and also results in unexpected magnetic behaviours in conventional molecular magnets.