Robust atomic orbital in the cluster magnet LiMoO2

TL;DR

This paper introduces LiMoO2, a novel cluster magnet where atomic dyz orbitals remain robust despite molecular orbital formation, enabling the study of isolated spin dimer physics in a hybrid magnetic system.

Contribution

It reports the discovery of a hybrid cluster magnet with robust atomic orbitals coexisting with molecular orbitals, providing a new platform for magnetic studies.

Findings

LiMoO2 exhibits spin singlet formation on molybdenum dimers.

Atomic dyz orbitals survive molecular orbital formation.

The material enables exploration of isolated spin dimer physics.

Abstract

In this study, we present a rutile-related material, LiMoO2, that becomes a cluster magnet and exhibits a spin singlet formation on a preformed molybdenum dimer upon cooling. Unlike ordinary cluster magnets, the atomic dyz orbital robustly survives despite the formation of molecular orbitals, thereby affecting the magnetic properties of the selected material. Such hybrid cluster magnets with the characters of molecular and atomic orbitals realize multiple independent spins on an isolated cluster, leading to an ideal platform to study the isolated spin dimers physics.