Spin-flip inelastic electron tunneling spectroscopy in atomic chains

TL;DR

This paper provides a theoretical analysis of spin-flip inelastic electron tunneling in atomic chains, successfully matching experimental conductance spectra and elucidating spin excitation features using advanced modeling techniques.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed theoretical framework combining the s-d model and non-equilibrium Green's functions to analyze spin-flip inelastic tunneling in atomic chains, aligning well with experimental data.

Findings

Qualitative and quantitative agreement with experimental conductance spectra

Accurate description of spin excitation feature intensities

Analysis of spin transition selection rules in atomic chains

Abstract

We present a theoretical study of the spin transport properties of mono-atomic magnetic chains with a focus on the spectroscopical features of the I-V curve associated to spin-flip processes. Our calculations are based on the s-d model for magnetism with the electron transport treated at the level of the non-equilibrium Green's function formalism. Inelastic spin-flip scattering processes are introduced perturbatively via the first Born approximation and an expression for the associated self-energy is derived. The computational method is then applied to describe the I-V characteristics and its derivatives of one dimensional chains of Mn atoms and the results are then compared to available experimental data. We find a qualitative and quantitative agreement between the calculated and the experimental conductance spectra. Significantly we are able to describe the relative intensities of the spin excitation features in the I-V curve, by means of a careful analysis of the spin transition selection rules associated to the atomic chains.