Understanding and controlling nanoscale spin coupling in molecular spintronic materials

分子尺度上的自旋电子学是一门蓬勃发展的学科，这是由于其有趣的基本现象以及高的技术应用潜力。该领域旨在控制纳米器件中的自旋自由度，以获得有用的新功能。为此，有必要对嵌入固态环境中的分子自旋中心的局部性质和相互作用进行更基本的理解，这需要具有高空间和能量分辨率的新研究。利用扫描隧道显微镜（STM），将在原子尺度的受控环境中表征和操纵新的自下而上设计的分子自旋结构和单分子磁体和光谱学（STS），以及自旋极化STM和低温下的单分子输运。主要目标是获得表面支撑分子磁体和分子自旋结构的结构，电子和磁性之间相互作用的基础知识。基于这种新的理解，原型分子自旋电子器件将实现，其通过在栅极可调石墨烯器件上定制的轨道耦合或通过利用单分子传输实验中的自旋扭矩效应来利用自旋自由度。

Spintronics at the molecular scale is a strongly growing discipline due to intriguing fundamental phenomena as well as high potential for technological applications. This area aims at controlling spin degrees of freedom in nanoscale devices to attain useful new functionality. For this purpose, a more fundamental understanding of the local properties and interactions of molecular spin centers embedded in a solid-state environment is necessary, requiring new studies with high spatial and energy resolution.In this proposed research, new bottom-up designed molecular spin structures and single molecule magnets will be characterized and manipulated in an atomic-scale controlled environment by using scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and spectroscopy (STS), as well as spin-polarized STM and single-molecule transport at cryogenic temperatures. The main goal is to gain fundamental knowledge of the interplay between structural, electronic, and magnetic properties of the surface-supported molecular magnets and molecule-based spin structures. Based upon this new understanding, prototype molecular spintronic devices will be realized that utilize the spin degree of freedom through tailored orbital coupling on gate-tunable graphene devices or by harnessing the spin-torque effect in single molecule transport experiments.