2018/03/12 by A. Diaz-Bachs, Albert Diaz-Bachs, M. I. Katsnelson +1 · 20 citations
Chemistry · Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Chemical Physics Studies #Atomic physics #Chemistry #Condensed matter physics #Electron #Magnetic properties of thin films #Magnetism #Magnetism in coordination complexes #Niobium #Phonon #Physics #Quantum mechanics #Relaxation (psychology) #Unpaired electron #physics.atm-clus
paper · pdf · doi:10.1088/1367-2630/aab5ca
published in New Journal of Physics 20(4), 043042 (IOP Publishing) · 7 pages, 5 figures
arxiv created 2018/03/12 · openalex publication_date 2018/03/12 · arxiv updated 2018/05/09 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
In this work we use magnetic deflection of V, Nb, and Ta atomic clusters to measure their magnetic moments. While only a few of the clusters show weak magnetism, all odd-numbered clusters deflect due to the presence of a single unpaired electron. Surprisingly, for the majority of V and Nb clusters an atomic-like behavior is found, which is a direct indication of the absence of spin–lattice interaction. This is in agreement with Kramers degeneracy theorem for systems with a half-integer spin. This purely quantum phenomenon is surprisingly observed for large systems of more than 20 atoms, and also indicates various quantum relaxation processes, via Raman two-phonon and Orbach high-spin mechanisms. In heavier, Ta clusters, the relaxation is always present, probably due to larger masses and thus lower phonon energies, as well as increased spin–orbit coupling.