Prof. Dr. Joris van Slageren
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Research Highlights
 | Quantum Coherence in Molecular NanomagnetsAn electron can be shown to pass through two slits at the same time. A football doesn't. Where and how does the quantum world of single particles transform into the classical world that we live in? We use molecular nanomagnets to study this transition. Molecular nanomagnets are molecular clusters of paramagnetic transition metal ions which are bridged by simple ligands. The clusters are encapsulated in an organic ligand shell, which protects them from each other and from the environment. The advantage of these systems is that they can be modified at will, by using established chemical synthetic methods. Their sizes range from single ions to dozens of ions. The employed metal ions can be judiciously chosen. Finally, intermolecular interactions can be finely adjusted. |
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 | Magnetic Anisotropy in Molecular NanomagnetsMagnetic anisotropy is a key property of molecular nanomagnets. For large magnetic anisotropies an energy barrier between spin-up and spin-down orientations is generated, leading to stable magnetization on a long time scale. This phenomenon has led to molecular nanomagnets being proposed for magnetic data storage applications. The magnetic anisotropy of the nanomagnet is the combination of the anisotropies of the single ions. It is not yet clear exactly how these two are related. We use a number of spectroscopic methods to unravel the origin of magnetic anisotropy in molecular nanomagnets. |