Regensburg 2022 – scientific programme

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O: Fachverband Oberflächenphysik

O 64: Gerhard Ertl Young Investigator Award

O 64.2: Talk

Thursday, September 8, 2022, 11:00–11:30, S051

Standing molecules for quantum sensing — •Taner Esat — Peter Grünberg Institute (PGI 3), Forschungszentrum Jülich, 52425 Jülich, Germany — Jülich Aachen Research Alliance (JARA), Fundamentals of Future Information Technology, 52425 Jülich, Germany

Artificial nanostructures, fabricated by placing building blocks like atoms and molecules in well-defined positions, are an almost universal playground where quantum effects can be studied and exploited on the atomic scale. In my talk, I will show that the manipulation capabilities of a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) allow the fabrication of metastable structures which do not form spontaneously in nature and that these structures offer attractive functionalities for quantum information and sensing. Specifically, I will demonstrate that a large planar aromatic molecule can be lifted into an upright standing geometry on a pedestal of two metal adatoms using the STM tip. This atypical and surprisingly stable upright orientation of the single molecule enables the system to function as a quantum dot and a coherent single-electron field emitter. Utilizing a novel homebuilt STM that uses adiabatic demagnetization refrigeration (ADR) to reach millikelvin temperatures, I will show that the standing molecule is weakly coupled to the surface and that it exhibits spin-flip excitations corresponding to a spin-1/2 system. If the standing molecule is fabricated on the tip, it can be used for the measurement of surface potentials and magnetic fields on the atomic scale at the same time - possibly even as an electron spin resonance sensor on the tip.