Protection of excited spin states by a superconducting energy gap

Abstract

The latest concepts for quantum computing and data storage envision to address and manipulate single spins. A limitation for single atoms or molecules in contact to a metal surface are the short lifetime of excited spin states, typically picoseconds, due to the exchange of energy and angular momentum with the itinerant electrons of the substrate [1-4]. Here we show that paramagnetic molecules on a superconducting substrate exhibit excited spin states with a lifetime of approximately 10 ns. We ascribe this increase in lifetime by orders of magnitude to the depletion of electronic states within the energy gap at the Fermi level. This prohibits pathways of energy relaxation into the substrate and allows for electrically pumping the magnetic molecule into higher spin states, making superconducting substrates premium candidates for spin manipulation. We further show that the proximity of the scanning tunneling microscope tip modifies the magnetic anisotropy.

References in corpus (5)

• Quantum Computing in Molecular Magnets
• Mechanical Control of Spin States in Spin-1 Molecules and the Underscreened Kondo Effect
• Magnetic Anisotropy and Magnetization Dynamics of Individual Atoms and Clusters of Fe and Co on Pt(111)
• Spin relaxation in Mn12-acetate
• Anomalously large g-factor of single atoms adsorbed on a metal substrate

Cited by in corpus (69)

• End states and subgap structure in proximity-coupled chains of magnetic adatoms
• Probing Atomic Structure and Majorana Wavefunctions in Mono-Atomic Fe-chains on Superconducting Pb-Surface
• Spin Excitations and Correlations in Scanning Tunneling Spectroscopy
• Single magnetic adsorbates on s-wave superconductors
• Tunneling processes into localized subgap states in superconductors
• Tuning the coupling of an individual magnetic impurity to a superconductor: quantum phase transition and transport
• Tuning the magnetic anisotropy of single molecules
• Atomic-scale spin sensing with a single-molecule at the apex of a scanning tunneling microscope
• Enhanced quantum coherence in exchange coupled spins via singlet-triplet transitions
• Observation of Coexistence of Yu-Shiba-Rusinov States and Spin-Flip Excitations
• Spin decoherence of magnetic atoms on surfaces
• Engineering the spin couplings in atomically crafted spin chains on an elemental superconductor
• Orbital-selective spin excitation of a magnetic porphyrin
• Quantum spins and hybridization in artificially-constructed chains of magnetic adatoms on a superconductor
• Majorana Fermions in Magnetic Chains
• Spin-resolved Andreev transport through double-quantum-dot Cooper pair splitters
• Yu-Shiba-Rusinov states in real metals
• Proximity effect on spin-dependent conductance and thermopower of correlated quantum dots
• Full counting statistics and shot noise of cotunneling in quantum dots and single-molecule transistors
• Coupled Yu-Shiba-Rusinov states induced by a many-body molecular spin on a superconductor
• Systematics of molecular self-assembled networks at topological insulators surfaces
• Transverse dynamical magnetic susceptibilities from regular static density functional theory: Evaluation of damping and g-shifts of spin-excitations
• Design and performance of an ultra-high vacuum spin-polarized scanning tunneling microscope operating at 30 mK and in a vector magnetic field
• Superconducting proximity effect and zero-bias anomaly in transport through quantum dots weakly attached to ferromagnetic leads
• Transport mirages in single-molecule devices
• Controlled complete suppression of single-atom inelastic spin and orbital cotunnelling
• Pair excitations of a quantum spin on a proximitized superconductor
• Dynamical Negative Differential Resistance in Antiferromagnetically Coupled Few-Atom Spin-Chains
• Long spin relaxation times in a transition metal atom in direct contact to a metal substrate
• Observing magnetic anisotropy in electronic transport through individual single-molecule magnets
• Spin resonance without spin splitting
• Spin transfer torque induced paramagnetic resonance
• Quantum Yu-Shiba-Rusinov dimers
• Robustness of Yu-Shiba-Rusinov resonances in presence of a complex superconducting order parameter
• Current cross-correlations in double quantum dot based Cooper pair splitters with ferromagnetic leads
• Spin-driven electrical power generation at room temperature
• Moiré tuning of spin excitations: Individual Fe atoms on MoS${}_2$/Au(111)
• Electron Paramagnetic Resonance of Single Magnetic Moment on a Surface
• Kondo physics in double quantum dot based Cooper pair splitters
• Control of oxidation and spin state in a single-molecule junction
• Extending the spin excitation lifetime of a magnetic molecule on a proximitized superconductor
• Non-equilibrium spin-crossover in copper phthalocyanine
• Vibron-assisted spin excitation in a magnetically anisotropic nickelocene complex
• Comparing XMCD and DFT with STM spin excitation spectroscopy for Fe and Co adatoms on Cu${}_2$N/Cu(100)
• Charge Transport and Entropy Production Rate in Magnetically Active Molecular Dimer
• Anomalous excitations of atomically crafted quantum magnets
• A New Platform for Engineering Topological Superconductors: Superlattices on Rashba Superconductors
• Control of entanglement transitions in quantum spin clusters
• Theoretical probing of inelastic spin-excitations in adatoms on surfaces
• Probing Hybridization of a Single Energy Level Coupled to Superconducting Leads
• Theory of spin inelastic tunneling spectroscopy for superconductor-superconductor and superconductor-metal junctions
• Relaxation and decoherence of qubits encoded in collective states of engineered magnetic structures
• Gating classical information flow through spin chains by quantum phase transitions
• Controllable Andreev Bound States in Bilayer Graphene Josephson Junction from Short to Long Junction Limits
• Inelastic-impurity-scattering-induced spin texture and topological transitions in surface electron waves
• Spin-fluctuation and spin-relaxation effects of single adatoms from first principles
• Spin Inelastic Electron Tunneling Spectroscopy on Local Magnetic Moment Embedded in Josephson Junction
• Quantum spin driven Yu-Shiba-Rusinov multiplets and fermion-parity-preserving phase transition in K${}_3$C${}_{60}$
• Emergent magnetism as a cooperative effect of interactions and reservoir
• Co(CO)n/Cu(001): Towards understanding chemical control of the Kondo effect
• Spin Excitations of High Spin Iron(II) in Metal-Organic Chains on Metal and Superconductor
• Optically and electrically controllable adatom spin-orbital dynamics in transition metal dichalcogenides
• Integrated information storage and transfer with a coherent magnetic device
• Electronically Mediated Magnetic Anisotropy in Vibrating Magnetic Molecules
• Spatially Dependent in-Gap States Induced by Andreev Tunneling through a Single Electronic State
• Anisotropy and spin-fluctuation effects on the spectral properties of Shiba impurities
• The geometric phase of Z${}_n$- and T-symmetric nanomagnets as a classification toolkit
• Enhanced lifetimes of spin chains coupled to chiral edge states
• Symmetry mediated tunable molecular magnetism on a 2D material