Quantum Phase Interference and Parity Effects in Magnetic Molecular Clusters
- 2 April 1999
- journal article
- other
- Published by American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Science
- Vol. 284 (5411) , 133-135
- https://doi.org/10.1126/science.284.5411.133
Abstract
An experimental method based on the Landau-Zener model was developed to measure very small tunnel splittings in molecular clusters of eight iron atoms, which at low temperature behave like a nanomagnet with a spin ground state of S = 10. The observed oscillations of the tunnel splittings as a function of the magnetic field applied along the hard anisotropy axis are due to topological quantum interference of two tunnel paths of opposite windings. Transitions between quantum numbers M = − S and ( S − n ), with n even or odd, revealed a parity effect that is analogous to the suppression of tunneling predicted for half-integer spins. This observation is direct evidence of the topological part of the quantum spin phase (Berry phase) in a magnetic system.Keywords
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