Efficient spin transitions in inelastic electron tunneling spec troscopy

TL;DR

This paper presents a strong coupling theory for spin excitations in inelastic electron tunneling spectroscopy, explaining large inelastic currents and applying it to Fe and Mn on CuN/Cu(100) with first-principles validation.

Contribution

It introduces a novel strong coupling model for spin transitions in inelastic tunneling spectroscopy, with quantitative agreement to experimental data for specific adsorbates.

Findings

Large inelastic currents explained by sudden spin state switch.

Dominance of a single collisional channel confirmed.

Quantitative agreement with experimental measurements.

Abstract

The excitation of the spin degrees of freedom of an adsorbed atom by tunneling electrons is computed using a strong coupling theory. The excitation process is shown to be a sudden switch between the initial state determined by the environmental anisotropy to an intermediate state given by the coupling to the tunnelling electron. This explains the observed large inelastic currents. Application is presented for Fe and Mn adsorbates on CuN monolayers on Cu(100). First-principles calculations show the dominance of one collisional channel, leading to a quantitative agreement with the experiment.