Dresden 2017 – scientific programme
Parts | Days | Selection | Search | Updates | Downloads | Help
O: Fachverband Oberflächenphysik
O 7: Electronic Structure of Surfaces: Magnetism and Spin Phenomena
O 7.3: Talk
Monday, March 20, 2017, 11:00–11:15, WIL C107
Tailoring the hysteresis of Dy single atom magnets with 4f orbital filling — •Fabio Donati1, Stefano Rusponi1, Aparajita Singha1, Romana Baltic1, Luca Persichetti3, Christian Wäckerlin1, Jan Dreiser2, Pietro Gambardella3, and Harald Brune1 — 1Institute of Physics, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland — 2Swiss Light Source, Paul Scherrer Institute, Switzerland — 3Department of Materials, ETH Zürich, Switzerland
Individual rare earth atoms adsorbed on a MgO surface are intensively investigated as they were recently found to preserve magnetic remanence up to 40 K [F. Donati et al., Science 352, 318 (2016)]. Their magnetic properties are directly related to the occupation of the 4f orbitals, which determines the multiplicity of the lowest multiplet and the integer/half-integer character of the total angular momentum J. Therefore, tuning the 4f occupation offers a direct way to control the behavior of these single atom magnets. Using x-ray magnetic circular dichroism, we show that the magnetism of Dy atoms on MgO/Ag(100) can be controlled with the thickness of the MgO film. The occupation of the 4f orbitals changes from 9 to 10 by increasing the number of MgO layers from 3 to 6. Magnetization loops at 2.5 K exhibit hysteresis with characteristic shape and opening that depend on the electronic configuration of the Dy atoms. Our results highlight the role of the proximity of the metal substrate in determining the magnetism of single atoms on insulating layers.