Controlled spin switching in a metallocene molecular junction

M. ORMAZA; M. BOQUET; ABUFAGER, PAULA NATALIA; N. BACHELLIER; N. LORENTE; L. LIMOT

NATURE COMMUNICATIONS

Nature Publishing Group

Año: 2017

2041-1723

The active control of a molecular spin represents one of the main challenges in molecular spintronics. Up to now spin manipulation has been achieved through the modification of themolecular structure either by chemical doping or by external stimuli. However, the spin of amolecule adsorbed on a surface depends primarily on the interaction between its localizedorbitals and the electronic states of the substrate. Here we change the effective spin of asingle molecule by modifying the molecule/metal interface in a controlled way using a low-temperature scanning tunneling microscope. A nickelocene molecule reversibly switchesfrom a spin 1 to 1/2 when varying the electrode-electrode distance from tunnel to contact regime. This switching is experimentally evidenced by inelastic and elastic spin-flipmechanisms observed in reproducible conductance measurements and understood using first principle calculations. Our work demonstrates the active control over the spin state ofsingle molecule devices through interface manipulation