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    Single Molecule Magnetism with Strong Magnetic Anisotropy and Enhanced Dy∙∙∙Dy Coupling in Three Isomers of Dy-Oxide Clusterfullerene Dy2O@C82
    (Chichester : John Wiley and Sons Ltd, 2019) Yang, W.; Velkos, G.; Liu, F.; Sudarkova, S.M.; Wang, Y.; Zhuang, J.; Zhang, H.; Li, X.; Zhang, X.; Büchner, B.; Avdoshenko, S.M.; Popov, A.A.; Chen, N.
    A new class of single-molecule magnets (SMMs) based on Dy-oxide clusterfullerenes is synthesized. Three isomers of Dy2O@C82 with Cs(6), C3v(8), and C2v(9) cage symmetries are characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction, which shows that the endohedral Dy−(µ2-O)−Dy cluster has bent shape with very short Dy−O bonds. Dy2O@C82 isomers show SMM behavior with broad magnetic hysteresis, but the temperature and magnetization relaxation depend strongly on the fullerene cage. The short Dy−O distances and the large negative charge of the oxide ion in Dy2O@C82 result in the very strong magnetic anisotropy of Dy ions. Their magnetic moments are aligned along the Dy−O bonds and are antiferromagnetically (AFM) coupled. At low temperatures, relaxation of magnetization in Dy2O@C82 proceeds via the ferromagnetically (FM)-coupled excited state, giving Arrhenius behavior with the effective barriers equal to the AFM-FM energy difference. The AFM-FM energy differences of 5.4–12.9 cm−1 in Dy2O@C82 are considerably larger than in SMMs with {Dy2O2} bridges, and the Dy∙∙∙Dy exchange coupling in Dy2O@C82 is the strongest among all dinuclear Dy SMMs with diamagnetic bridges. Dy-oxide clusterfullerenes provide a playground for the further tuning of molecular magnetism via variation of the size and shape of the fullerene cage.
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    Confined crystals of the smallest phase-change material
    (Washington, DC : American Chemical Society, 2013) Giusca, C.E.; Stolojan, V.; Sloan, J.; Börrnert, F.; Shiozawa, H.; Sader, K.; Rümmeli, M.H.; Büchner, B.; Silva, S.R.P.
    The demand for high-density memory in tandem with limitations imposed by the minimum feature size of current storage devices has created a need for new materials that can store information in smaller volumes than currently possible. Successfully employed in commercial optical data storage products, phase-change materials, that can reversibly and rapidly change from an amorphous phase to a crystalline phase when subject to heating or cooling have been identified for the development of the next generation electronic memories. There are limitations to the miniaturization of these devices due to current synthesis and theoretical considerations that place a lower limit of 2 nm on the minimum bit size, below which the material does not transform in the structural phase. We show here that by using carbon nanotubes of less than 2 nm diameter as templates phase-change nanowires confined to their smallest conceivable scale are obtained. Contrary to previous experimental evidence and theoretical expectations, the nanowires are found to crystallize at this scale and display amorphous-to-crystalline phase changes, fulfilling an important prerequisite of a memory element. We show evidence for the smallest phase-change material, extending thus the size limit to explore phase-change memory devices at extreme scales.
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    Air-stable redox-active nanomagnets with lanthanide spins radical-bridged by a metal–metal bond
    (London : Nature Publishing Group, 2019) Liu, F.; Velkos, G.; Krylov, D.S.; Spree, L.; Zalibera, M.; Ray, R.; Samoylova, N.A.; Chen, C.-H.; Rosenkranz, M.; Schiemenz, S.; Ziegs, F.; Nenkov, K.; Kostanyan, A.; Greber, T.; Wolter, A.U.B.; Richter, M.; Büchner, B.; Avdoshenko, S.M.; Popov, A.A.
    Engineering intramolecular exchange interactions between magnetic metal atoms is a ubiquitous strategy for designing molecular magnets. For lanthanides, the localized nature of 4f electrons usually results in weak exchange coupling. Mediating magnetic interactions between lanthanide ions via radical bridges is a fruitful strategy towards stronger coupling. In this work we explore the limiting case when the role of a radical bridge is played by a single unpaired electron. We synthesize an array of air-stable Ln 2 @C 80 (CH 2 Ph) dimetallofullerenes (Ln 2 = Y 2 , Gd 2 , Tb 2 , Dy 2 , Ho 2 , Er 2 , TbY, TbGd) featuring a covalent lanthanide-lanthanide bond. The lanthanide spins are glued together by very strong exchange interactions between 4f moments and a single electron residing on the metal–metal bonding orbital. Tb 2 @C 80 (CH 2 Ph) shows a gigantic coercivity of 8.2 Tesla at 5 K and a high 100-s blocking temperature of magnetization of 25.2 K. The Ln-Ln bonding orbital in Ln 2 @C 80 (CH 2 Ph) is redox active, enabling electrochemical tuning of the magnetism.
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    Tuning the interplay between nematicity and spin fluctuations in Na1-x Li x FeAs superconductors
    (London : Nature Publishing Group, 2018) Baek, S.-H.; Bhoi, D.; Nam, W.; Lee, B.; Efremov, D.V.; Büchner, B.; Kim, K.H.
    Strong interplay of spin and charge/orbital degrees of freedom is the fundamental characteristic of the iron-based superconductors (FeSCs), which leads to the emergence of a nematic state as a rule in the vicinity of the antiferromagnetic state. Despite intense debate for many years, however, whether nematicity is driven by spin or orbital fluctuations remains unsettled. Here, by use of transport, magnetization, and 75As nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) measurements, we show a striking transformation of the relationship between nematicity and spin fluctuations (SFs) in Na1-x Li x FeAs; For x ≤ 0.02, the nematic transition promotes SFs. In contrast, for x ≥ 0.03, the system undergoes a non-magnetic phase transition at a temperature T 0 into a distinct nematic state that suppresses SFs. Such a drastic change of the spin fluctuation spectrum associated with nematicity by small doping is highly unusual, and provides insights into the origin and nature of nematicity in FeSCs.
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    Spectral field mapping in plasmonic nanostructures with nanometer resolution
    (London : Nature Publishing Group, 2018) Krehl, J.; Guzzinati, G.; Schultz, J.; Potapov, P.; Pohl, D.; Martin, J.; Verbeeck, J.; Fery, A.; Büchner, B.; Lubk, A.
    Plasmonic nanostructures and -devices are rapidly transforming light manipulation technology by allowing to modify and enhance optical fields on sub-wavelength scales. Advances in this field rely heavily on the development of new characterization methods for the fundamental nanoscale interactions. However, the direct and quantitative mapping of transient electric and magnetic fields characterizing the plasmonic coupling has been proven elusive to date. Here we demonstrate how to directly measure the inelastic momentum transfer of surface plasmon modes via the energy-loss filtered deflection of a focused electron beam in a transmission electron microscope. By scanning the beam over the sample we obtain a spatially and spectrally resolved deflection map and we further show how this deflection is related quantitatively to the spectral component of the induced electric and magnetic fields pertaining to the mode. In some regards this technique is an extension to the established differential phase contrast into the dynamic regime. © 2018, The Author(s).
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    Mixed dysprosium-lanthanide nitride clusterfullerenes DyM2N@C80-: I h and Dy2MN@C80- i h (M = Gd, Er, Tm, and Lu): Synthesis, molecular structure, and quantum motion of the endohedral nitrogen atom
    (Cambridge : RSC Publ., 2019) Schlesier, C.; Liu, F.; Dubrovin, V.; Spree, L.; Büchner, B.; Avdoshenko, S.M.; Popov, A.A.
    Systematic exploration of the synthesis of mixed-metal Dy-M nitride clusterfullerenes (NCFs, M = Gd, Er, Tm, Lu) is performed, and the impact of the second metal on the relative yield is evaluated. We demonstrate that the ionic radius of the metal appears to be the main factor allowing explanation of the relative yields in Dy-M mixed-metal systems with M = Sc, Lu, Er, and Gd. At the same time, Dy-Tm NCFs show anomalously low yields, which is not consistent with the relatively small ionic radius of Tm3+ but can be explained by the high third ionization potential of Tm. Complete separation of Dy-Gd and Dy-Er, as well as partial separation of Dy-Lu M3N@C80 nitride clusterfullerenes, is accomplished by recycling HPLC. The molecular structures of DyGd2N@C80 and DyEr2N@C80 are analyzed by means of single-crystal X-ray diffraction. A remarkable ordering of mixed-metal nitride clusters is found despite similar size and electronic properties of the metals. Possible pyramidalization of the nitride clusters in these and other nitride clusterfullerenes is critically analyzed with the help of DFT calculations and reconstruction of the nitrogen inversion barrier in M3N@C80 molecules is performed. Although a double-well potential with a pyramidal cluster structure is found to be common for most of them, the small size of the inversion barrier often leads to an apparent planar structure of the cluster. This situation is found for those M3N@C80 molecules in which the energy of the lowest vibrational level exceeds that of the inversion barrier, including Dy3N@C80 and DyEr2N@C80. The genuine pyramidal structure can be observed by X-ray diffraction only when the lowest vibrational level is below the inversion barrier, such as those found in Gd3N@C80 and DyGd2N@C80. The quantum nature of molecular vibrations becomes especially apparent when the size of the inversion barrier is comparable to the energy of the lowest vibrational levels.
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    Fe1-xNix alloy nanoparticles encapsulated inside carbon nanotubes: Controlled synthesis, structure and magnetic properties
    (Basel : MDPI AG, 2018) Ghunaim, R.; Damm, C.; Wolf, D.; Lubk, A.; Büchner, B.; Mertig, M.; Hampel, S.
    In the present work, different synthesis procedures have been demonstrated to fill carbon nanotubes (CNTs) with Fe1-xNix alloy nanoparticles (x = 0.33, 0.5). CNTs act as templates for the encapsulation of magnetic nanoparticles, and provide a protective shield against oxidation as well as prevent nanoparticles agglomeration. By variation of the reaction parameters, the purity of the samples, degree of filling, the composition and size of filling nanoparticles have been tailored and therefore the magnetic properties. The samples were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Bright-field (BF) TEM tomography, X-ray powder diffraction, superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The Fe1-x Nix-filled CNTs show a huge enhancement in the coercive fields compared to the corresponding bulk materials, which make them excellent candidates for several applications such as magnetic storage devices.
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    Single molecule magnet with an unpaired electron trapped between two lanthanide ions inside a fullerene
    (London : Nature Publishing Group, 2017) Liu, F.; Krylov, D.S.; Spree, L.; Avdoshenko, S.M.; Samoylova, N.A.; Rosenkranz, M.; Kostanyan, A.; Greber, T.; Wolter, A.U.B.; Büchner, B.; Popov, A.A.
    Increasing the temperature at which molecules behave as single-molecule magnets is a serious challenge in molecular magnetism. One of the ways to address this problem is to create the molecules with strongly coupled lanthanide ions. In this work, endohedral metallofullerenes Y 2 @C 80 and Dy 2 @C 80 are obtained in the form of air-stable benzyl monoadducts. Both feature an unpaired electron trapped between metal ions, thus forming a single-electron metal-metal bond. Giant exchange interactions between lanthanide ions and the unpaired electron result in single-molecule magnetism of Dy 2 @C 80 (CH 2 Ph) with a record-high 100 s blocking temperature of 18 K. All magnetic moments in Dy 2 @C 80 (CH 2 Ph) are parallel and couple ferromagnetically to form a single spin unit of 21 μ B with a dysprosium-electron exchange constant of 32 cm -1. The barrier of the magnetization reversal of 613 K is assigned to the state in which the spin of one Dy centre is flipped.
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    Possible experimental realization of a basic Z 2 topological semimetal in GaGeTe
    (College Park, MD : American Institute of Physics, 2019) Haubold, E.; Fedorov, A.; Pielnhofer, F.; Rusinov, I.P.; Menshchikova, T.V.; Duppel, V.; Friedrich, D.; Weihrich, R.; Pfitzner, A.; Zeugner, A.; Isaeva, A.; Thirupathaiah, S.; Kushnirenko, Y.; Rienks, E.; Kim, T.; Chulkov, E.V.; Büchner, B.; Borisenko, S.
    We report experimental and theoretical evidence that GaGeTe is a basic Z2 topological semimetal with three types of charge carriers: bulk-originated electrons and holes as well as surface state electrons. This electronic situation is qualitatively similar to the classic 3D topological insulator Bi2Se3, but important differences account for an unprecedented transport scenario in GaGeTe. High-resolution angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy combined with advanced band structure calculations show a small indirect energy gap caused by a peculiar band inversion at the T-point of the Brillouin zone in GaGeTe. An energy overlap of the valence and conduction bands brings both electron and holelike carriers to the Fermi level, while the momentum gap between the corresponding dispersions remains finite. We argue that peculiarities of the electronic spectrum of GaGeTe have a fundamental importance for the physics of topological matter and may boost the material's application potential.
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    Holographic vector field electron tomography of three-dimensional nanomagnets
    (London : Nature Publishing Group, 2019) Wolf, D.; Biziere, N.; Sturm, S.; Reyes, D.; Wade, T.; Niermann, T.; Krehl, J.; Warot-Fonrose, B.; Büchner, B.; Snoeck, E.; Gatel, C.; Lubk, A.
    Complex 3D magnetic textures in nanomagnets exhibit rich physical properties, e.g., in their dynamic interaction with external fields and currents, and play an increasing role for current technological challenges such as energy-efficient memory devices. To study these magnetic nanostructures including their dependency on geometry, composition, and crystallinity, a 3D characterization of the magnetic field with nanometer spatial resolution is indispensable. Here we show how holographic vector field electron tomography can reconstruct all three components of magnetic induction as well as the electrostatic potential of a Co/Cu nanowire with sub 10 nm spatial resolution. We address the workflow from acquisition, via image alignment to holographic and tomographic reconstruction. Combining the obtained tomographic data with micromagnetic considerations, we derive local key magnetic characteristics, such as magnetization current or exchange stiffness, and demonstrate how magnetization configurations, such as vortex states in the Co-disks, depend on small structural variations of the as-grown nanowire.