2003/04/30 by E. del Barco, Enrique del Barco, Andrew D. Kent +6 · 8 citations
Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Lanthanide and Transition Metal Complexes #Magnetism in coordination complexes #Organic and Molecular Conductors Research #cond-mat.mes-hall
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.91.047203
published as Phys. Rev. Lett. 91, 047203-1 (2003) · 4 pages and 3 figures
openalex publication_date 2003/07/24 · arxiv created 2003/07/29 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
The symmetry of magnetic quantum tunneling has been studied in the prototype single molecule magnet Mn12-acetate using a micro-Hall effect magnetometer and superconducting high field vector magnet system. An average crystal fourfold symmetry is shown to be due to local molecular environments of twofold symmetry that are rotated by 90 degrees with respect to one another, confirming that disorder which lowers the molecule symmetry is as important to magnetic quantum tunneling. We have studied a subset of these lower (twofold) site symmetry molecules and present evidence for a Berry phase effect consistent with a local twofold symmetry.