We show that the magnetic ordering of coupled atomic dimers on a superconductor is revealed by their intra-gap spectral features. Chromium atoms on the superconductor β-Bi2Pd surface display Yu-Shiba-Rusinov bound states, detected as pairs of intra-gap excitations in the tunneling spectra. We formed Cr dimers by atomic manipulation and found that their intra-gap features appear either shifted or split with respect to single atoms. The spectral variations reveal that the magnetic coupling of the dimer changes between ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic depending on its disposition on the surface, in good agreement with density functional theory simulations. These results prove that superconducting intra-gap state spectroscopy is an accurate tool to detect the magnetic ordering of atomic scale structures.
@article{arxiv.1709.09224,
title = {Probing magnetic interactions between Cr adatoms on the $\beta$-Bi$_2$Pd superconductor},
author = {Deung-Jang Choi and Carlos García Fernández and Edwin Herrera and Carmen Rubio-Verdú and Miguel M. Ugeda and Isabel Guillamón and Hermann Suderow and Jose Ignacio Pascual and Nicolás Lorente},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1709.09224},
year = {2018}
}