Parity effect in ground state localization of antiferromagnetic chains coupled to a ferromagnet

Abstract

We investigate the ground states of antiferromagnetic Mn nanochains on Ni(110) by spin-polarized scanning tunneling microscopy in combination with theory. While the ferrimagnetic linear trimer experimentally shows the predicted collinear classical ground state, no magnetic contrast was observed for dimers and tetramers where non-collinear structures were expected based on ab-initio theory. This striking observation can be explained by zero-point energy motion for even numbered chains derived within a classical equation of motion leading to non classical ground states. Thus, depending on the parity of the chain length, the system shows a classical or a quantum behavior.

arXiv comment5 pages, 4 figures and supplementary information

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• Spin-fluctuation and spin-relaxation effects of single adatoms from first principles
• Engineering elliptical spin-excitations by complex anisotropy fields in Fe adatoms and dimers on Cu(111)
• Electronic structure of atomic manganese chains supported on Cu${}_2$N / Cu (100)
• Re-entrant spin-flop transition in nanomagnets
• Ground-state magnetic properties of spin ladder-shaped quantum nanomagnet: Exact diagonalization study