All-trans-retinoic acid (ReA), a closed-shell organic molecule comprising only C, H, and O atoms, is investigated on a Au(111) substrate using scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy. In dense arrays single ReA molecules are switched to a number of states, three of which carry a localized spin as evidenced by conductance spectroscopy in high magnetic fields. The spin of a single molecule may be reversibly switched on and off without affecting its neighbors. We suggest that ReA on Au is readily converted to a radical by the abstraction of an electron.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1512.04576,
title = {Spin Manipulation by Creation of Single-Molecule Radical Cations},
author = {Sujoy Karan and Na Li and Yajie Zhang and Yang He and I-Po Hong and Huanjun Song and Jing-Tao Lü and Yongfeng Wang and Lianmao Peng and Kai Wu and Georg S. Michelitsch and Reinhard J. Maurer and Katharina Diller and Karsten Reuter and Alexander Weismann and Richard Berndt},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1512.04576},
year = {2016}
}
Comments
5 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. Lett