Sensing the Spin of an Individual Ce Adatom

Markus Ternes, Christopher P. Lutz, Andreas J. Heinrich, and Wolf-Dieter Schneider
Phys. Rev. Lett. 124, 167202 – Published 22 April 2020
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Abstract

The magnetic moment of rare earth elements originates from electrons in the partially filled 4f orbitals. Accessing this moment electrically by scanning tunneling spectroscopy is hampered by shielding of outerlying orbitals. Here, we show that we can detect the magnetic moment of an individual Ce atom adsorbed on a Cu2N ultrathin film on Cu(100) by using a sensor tip that has its apex functionalized with a Kondo screened spin system. We calibrate the sensor tip by deliberately coupling it to a well characterized Fe atom. Subsequently, we use the splitting of the tip’s Kondo resonance when approaching a spectroscopically dark Ce atom to sense its magnetic moment.

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  • Received 20 August 2019
  • Accepted 1 April 2020

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.124.167202

© 2020 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Condensed Matter, Materials & Applied Physics

Authors & Affiliations

Markus Ternes1,2,*, Christopher P. Lutz3, Andreas J. Heinrich4,5, and Wolf-Dieter Schneider6,7

  • 1RWTH Aachen University, Institute of Physics, D-52074 Aachen, Germany
  • 2Peter-Grünberg-Institute, Forschungszentrum Jülich, D-52425 Jülich, Germany
  • 3IBM Almaden Research Center, San Jose, California 95120, USA
  • 4Center for Quantum Nanoscience, Institute for Basic Science (IBS), Seoul 03760, Republic of Korea
  • 5Physics Department, Ewha Womans University, Seoul 03760, Republic of Korea
  • 6Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Institut de Physique, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland
  • 7Fritz-Haber-Institute of the Max-Planck-Society, Faradayweg 4-6, D-14195 Berlin, Germany

  • *Corresponding author. ternes@physik.rwth-aachen.de

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Issue

Vol. 124, Iss. 16 — 24 April 2020

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