Direct Electrical Access to the Spin Manifolds of Individual Lanthanide Atoms.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 39808209.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1021/acsnano.4c14327 and PMC identifier 11781023.
- 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
Lanthanide atoms show long magnetic lifetimes because of their strongly localized 4<i>f</i> electrons, but electrical control of their spins has been difficult because of their closed valence shell configurations. We achieved electron spin resonance of individual lanthanide atoms using a scanning tunneling microscope to probe the atoms bound to a protective insulating film. The atoms on this surface formed a singly charged cation state having an unpaired 6<i>s</i> electron, enabling tunnel current to access their 4<i>f</i> electrons. Europium spectra display a rich array of transitions among the 54 combined electron and nuclear spin states. In contrast, samarium's ground state is a Kramers doublet with a very large <i>g</i>-factor of 5. These results demonstrate that all-electronic sensing and control of individual lanthanide spins is possible for quantum devices and spin-based electronics by using their rarely observed monovalent cation state.