Dresden 2026 – scientific programme
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O: Fachverband Oberflächenphysik
O 99: Spins on surfaces at the atomic scale III
O 99.2: Talk
Friday, March 13, 2026, 09:45–10:00, WILL/A317
Tip induced f-π interaction of YbPc2 Molecules utilizing STM — •Jonas Arnold1, Kwan Ho Au-Yeung1, Wantong Huang1, Eufemio Moreno Pineda1, Christoph Sürgers1, Wolfgang Wernsdorfer1, Mario Ruben2, and Philip Willke1 — 1Physikalisches Institut, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Karlsruhe, Germany — 2Institute of Nanotechnology, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Karlsruhe, Germany
Individual molecules constitute excellent building blocks for quantum technologies thanks to their small size, reproducibility and the benefit of self assembly. A promising class are rare-earth bis-phthalocyanine complexes (1). In this work, we investigate YbPc2 molecules using a mK- scanning tunneling microscope (STM) to identify potential indicators of a magnetic signature. In the gas phase, the YbPc2 molecule is expected to exhibit a radical spin localized at its ligands, an f-shell electron spin S = 1/2 as well as a nuclear spin (I = 1/2 and 5/2) for certain isotopes. Thus, this system is a potential candidate for a spin cascade (1). We perform measurements on self-assembled multi-layer islands of YbPc2 on Ag(001) and MgO/Ag(001). We find that the proximity of the STM tip changes the spin state of the molecule by tuning states close to the Fermi level (2). We identify the emerging spectral features close to zero bias as inelastic electron tunneling excitations that result from the combined f-π system. This mechanism can be found for the first, second and third molecular layer on Ag(001) as well as MgO/Ag(001). (1) Wernsdorfer, W. et al., Adv. Mat., 2019, 31(26), 1806687. (2) Liao, X. et al., Nat. Com., 2025, 16(1), p.6263.
Keywords: Lanthanides; Radical Spin; Inelastic Spin Excitation; Double Decker Molecule; Scanning Tunneling Microscopy