Browsing by Author "Giansiracusa, MJ"

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    Inelastic neutron scattering of lanthanoid single molecule magnets
    (Australian Institute of Nuclear Science and Engineering, 2016-11-29) Vonci, M; Giansiracusa, MJ; Mole, RA; Soncini, A; Boskovic, C
    With their signature energy barrier to magnetic relaxation and quantum tunnelling through this barrier, single-molecule magnets (SMMs) are important candidate molecules for future applications in molecular spintronics and quantum computation. Among the most promising SMMs are those based on trivalent lanthanoid ions (Ln-SMMs). One of the most powerful experimental techniques for elucidating the electronic structure of SMMs is inelastic neutron scattering (INS), which provides a direct probe of the relevant energy levels. INS is very sensitive to the electronic structure of the lowest lying energy levels of Ln(III) ions, which are dominated by crystal field (CF) splitting effects. Despite these advantages, relatively few INS spectra with well-defined magnetic scattering have been reported for Ln-SMMs. We have recently completed a study of two structural families of Ln(III)-polyoxometalates: Na9[Ln(W5O18)2] (Ln = Nd, Tb, Ho, Er) and Na11[{Ln(OH2)}3CO3(PW9O34)2], (Ln = Ho, Er). In both cases the INS measurements have been analysed using both a conventional crystal field and a more comprehensive ab initio approach. In the current contribution I will address the issues related to getting high quality neutron scattering data and summarise what has been learnt about the rational design of SMMs from this series of experiments.