Magnetic exchange interaction across a vacuum barrier at the single-atom scale

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Jörg Kröger
• Subject Area: Experimental Condensed Matter Physics
• Term: since 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 530143589

The decoration of a metal probe tip by a molecule intentionally picked up from a surface is a powerful method to improve the measurement capabilities of scanning probe microscopes. The proposal aims at generalizing the use of a molecular tip to explore surface magnetism at the atomic scale. Tips of a scanning tunneling and of an atomic force microscope will be terminated with a single spin-active metallocene molecule to measure the magnetic exchange field spin polarization above surfaces with atomic resolution. The objects to be studied range from single atoms and molecules to clusters and ultrathin films with collinear and noncollinear magnetic texture. To preserve genuine magnetic properties to a maximum extent even after adsorption, adsorbates will also be anchored to the surface via intermediate graphene acting as a decoupling buffer layer. State-of-the-art density functional theory calculations complement the experiments.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: France
• Cooperation Partners: Professorin Dr. Marie-Laure Bocquet; Professor Dr. Laurent Limot