Probing magnetic interactions between Cr adatoms on the $\beta$-Bi$_2$Pd superconductor

TL;DR

This study demonstrates that intra-gap spectral features in superconductors can reveal the magnetic ordering of atomic dimers, with Cr dimers on $eta$-Bi$_2$Pd showing tunable ferromagnetic or antiferromagnetic coupling.

Contribution

It introduces a method using intra-gap spectral features to determine magnetic ordering in atomic structures on superconductors, validated by experiments and density functional theory.

Findings

Cr atoms on $eta$-Bi$_2$Pd exhibit Yu-Shiba-Rusinov states.

Spectral features of Cr dimers vary with magnetic coupling.

Spectroscopy accurately detects magnetic order in atomic-scale structures.

Abstract

We show that the magnetic ordering of coupled atomic dimers on a superconductor is revealed by their intra-gap spectral features. Chromium atoms on the superconductor $\beta$-Bi$_2$Pd surface display Yu-Shiba-Rusinov bound states, detected as pairs of intra-gap excitations in the tunneling spectra. We formed Cr dimers by atomic manipulation and found that their intra-gap features appear either shifted or split with respect to single atoms. The spectral variations reveal that the magnetic coupling of the dimer changes between ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic depending on its disposition on the surface, in good agreement with density functional theory simulations. These results prove that superconducting intra-gap state spectroscopy is an accurate tool to detect the magnetic ordering of atomic scale structures.