Quantum Nanoscience: Atoms on Surfaces

MPSD Seminar

Date: Jun 18, 2018
Time: 02:30 PM - 03:30 PM (Local Time Germany)
Speaker: Andreas J. Heinrich
Center for Quantum Nanoscience, Institute for Basic Science, Seoul Department of Physics, Ewha Womans University, Seoul, Korea
Location: CFEL (Bldg. 99)
Room: Seminar Room I-II, EG.076-078
Host: Andrea Cavalleri / Angel Rubio

The scanning tunneling microscope is an amazing tool because of its atomic-scale spatial resolution. This can be combined with the use of low temperatures, culminating in precise atom manipulation and spectroscopy with microvolt energy resolution. In this talk we will apply these techniques to the investigation of the quantum spin properties of magnetic atoms sitting on thin insulating films.

We will start our exploration with the understanding of the quantum spin states (also called the magnetic states) of these adsorbates. To measure these states, we combined scanning tunneling with x-ray absorption spectroscopy and found amazing agreement of those vastly different techniques (Science 2014, PRL 2015).

Next, we will investigate the lifetimes of excited states. Surprisingly, we find lifetimes that vary from nanoseconds to hours, a truly amazing consequence of the quantum states of different adsorbates.

Finally, we will explore the superposition of quantum states which is inherent to spin resonance techniques. We recently demonstrated the use of electron spin resonance on single Fe atoms on MgO (Science 2015). This technique combines the power of STM of atomicscale spectroscopy with the unprecedented energy resolution of spin resonance techniques, which is about 10,000 times better than normal spectroscopy.