No Arabic abstract
Below 360 mK, Fe8 magnetic molecular clusters are in the pure quantum relaxation regime. We showed recently that the predicted ``square-root time relaxation is obeyed, allowing us to develop a new method for watching the evolution of the distribution of molecular spin states in the sample. We measured the distribution P(H) of molecules which are in resonance at the applied field H. Tunnelling initially causes rapid transitions of molecules, thereby ``digging a hole in P(H). For small initial magnetisation values, the hole width shows an intrinsic broadening which may be due to nuclear spins. We present here hole digging measurements in the thermal activated regime which may allow to study the effect of spin-phonon coupling.
The nuclear spin-mediated quantum relaxation of ensembles of tunneling magnetic molecules causes a hole to appear in the distribution of internal fields in the system. The form of this hole, and its time evolution, are studied using Monte Carlo simulations. It is shown that the line-shape of the tunneling hole in a weakly polarised sample must have a Lorentzian lineshape- the short-time half-width $xi_o$ in all experiments done so far should be $sim E_0$, the half-width of the nuclear spin multiplet. After a time $tau_o$, the single molecule tunneling relaxation time, the hole width begins to increase rapidly. In initially polarised samples the disintegration of resonant tunneling surfaces is found to be very fast.
Reply to the Comment of J.J. Alonso and J.F. Fernandez on the paper Hole-digging in ensembles of tunneling molecular magnets of I.S. Tupitsyn, P.C.E. Stamp and N.V. Prokofev (Phys. Rev. B 69, 132406, (2004)).
Tupitsyn et al. [Phys. Rev. B v69, 132406 (2004)] have recently reported results for the relaxation of crystalline systems of single--molecule magnets, such as Fe_8. They claim that, quite generally, (1) the magnetization and hole widths of field--distributions evolve with time t as sqrt{t}, and (2) the holes line shapes are Lorentzian. We give a counter--example to these conclusions, and show that the main assumption on which they rest is invalid.
The magnetization of the prototypical molecular magnet Mn12-acetate exhibits a series of sharp steps at low temperatures due to quantum tunneling at specific resonant values of magnetic field applied along the easy c-axis. An abrupt reversal of the magnetic moment of such a crystal can also occur as an avalanche, where the spin reversal proceeds along a deflagration front that travels through the sample at subsonic speed. In this article we review experimental results that have been obtained for the ignition temperature and the speed of propagation of magnetic avalanches in molecular nanomagnets. Fits of the data with the theory of magnetic deflagration yield overall qualitative agreement. However, numerical discrepancies indicate that our understanding of these avalanches is incomplete.
The reversal of the magnetization of crystals of molecular magnets that have a large spin and high anisotropy barrier generally proceeds below the blocking temperature by quantum tunneling. This is manifested as a series of controlled steps in the hysteresis loops at resonant values of the magnetic field where energy levels on opposite sides of the barrier cross. An abrupt reversal of the magnetic moment of the entire crystal can occur instead by a process commonly referred to as a magnetic avalanche, where the molecular spins reverse along a deflagration front that travels through the sample at subsonic speed. In this chapter, we review experimental results obtained to date for magnetic deflagration in molecular nanomagnets.