Physikalisches Kolloquium, Montag, 19.

Januar 2004, 17:15 Uhr, H34

Molecular Nanomagnets
Professor Dante Gatteschi
Universitt Florenz
Molecular nanomagnets are a relatively new entry in the
family of Magnets. They are intermediate between classical
and quantum magnets and show unusual properties. So
far, three types have been found:
Mn12acetate

1. Single Molecule Magnets, SMM, Fig. 1,

consist of clusters of magnets whose
magnetization relaxes slowly at low
temperatures. They show magnetic
hysteresis of molecular origin and
quantum size effects and have attracted
large interest of theorists.

[Mn12O12(CH3COO) 16(H2O)4]2CH3COOH 4H2O

Mn(III)

S=2

Mn(IV)

S=3/2

Total Spin
S=10
T. Lis Acta Cryst. 1980, B36, 2042.
R. Sessoli et al. Nature 1993, 365, 141.

Figure 1

2. Single Chain Magnets, SCM, Fig. 2, are

magnetic polymers and show also a slow
relaxation of their magnetization at low
temperatures.
3. Antiferromagnetic clusters. They are
believed to be candidates for showing
tunnelling of the Nel vector.
Figure 2
One important possible application of molecular nanomagnets is information storage. If they are
organized on suitable substrates, both their classical and their quantum features can be
exploited. In this talk, a review will be given on the attempts for realization of this technique.