Probing Transverse Magnetic Anisotropy by Electronic Transport through a Single-Molecule Magnet

TL;DR

This study uses electronic transport measurements to determine the transverse magnetic anisotropy of a single Fe4 molecule in a junction, revealing it to be larger than bulk values and demonstrating a technique effective at relatively high temperatures.

Contribution

It introduces a novel in situ method to probe transverse magnetic anisotropy in single-molecule magnets via conductance modulation.

Findings

Transverse anisotropy is significantly larger in the single-molecule junction than in bulk.

The technique works at temperatures above the energy scale of tunnel splittings.

Conductance modulations effectively reveal magnetic anisotropy properties.

Abstract

By means of electronic transport, we study the transverse magnetic anisotropy of an individual Fe$_4$ single-molecule magnet (SMM) embedded in a three-terminal junction. In particular, we determine in situ the transverse anisotropy of the molecule from the pronounced intensity modulations of the linear conductance, which are observed as a function of applied magnetic field. The proposed technique works at temperatures exceeding the energy scale of the tunnel splittings of the SMM. We deduce that the transverse anisotropy for a single Fe$_4$ molecule captured in a junction is substantially larger than the bulk value.