TY  - JOUR
AU  - Steinbrecher, M.
AU  - Sonntag, A.
AU  - dos Santos Dias, Manuel
AU  - Bouhassoune, M.
AU  - Lounis, S.
AU  - Wiebe, J.
AU  - Wiesendanger, R.
AU  - Khajetoorians, A. A.
TI  - Absence of a spin-signature from a single Ho adatom as probed by spin-sensitive tunneling
JO  - Nature Communications
VL  - 7
SN  - 2041-1723
CY  - London
PB  - Nature Publishing Group
M1  - FZJ-2016-01602
SP  - 10454
PY  - 2016
AB  - Whether rare-earth materials can be used as single-atom magnetic memory is an ongoing debate in recent literature. Here we show, by inelastic and spin-resolved scanning tunnelling-based methods, that we observe a strong magnetic signal and excitation from Fe atoms adsorbed on Pt(111), but see no signatures of magnetic excitation or spin-based telegraph noise for Ho atoms. Moreover, we observe that the indirect exchange field produced by a single Ho atom is negligible, as sensed by nearby Fe atoms. We demonstrate, using ab initio methods, that this stems from a comparatively weak coupling of the Ho 4f electrons with both tunnelling electrons and substrate-derived itinerant electrons, making both magnetic coupling and detection very difficult when compared to 3d elements. We discuss these results in the context of ongoing disputes and clarify important controversies.
LB  - PUB:(DE-HGF)16
UR  - <Go to ISI:>//WOS:000371135900001
DO  - DOI:10.1038/ncomms10454
UR  - https://juser.fz-juelich.de/record/281958
ER  -