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Functional (Supra)Molecular Nanostructures - ruben-group

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Habilitation Dr. Mario Ruben<br />

ULP Strasbourg<br />

8.2. Current Research Projects<br />

8.2.1. Kondo-Molecules and <strong>Molecular</strong> Spintronics<br />

(Project supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft)<br />

The interaction of metals and molecules is a field which has recently attracted<br />

increasing attention due to the appearance of molecular electronics. Thereby, two different<br />

electronic regimes are combined: (i) the electrons of a simple metal (e.g. gold) can be<br />

considered as non-interacting quasiparticles resulting in a quasi-continuous description of the<br />

density of states (DOS) at low temperatures, whereas (ii) the electrons in a molecule are<br />

commonly highly correlated and show discrete electronic levels.<br />

In this project, we will create and investigate systems where a molecule on the surface<br />

induces electron correlations in the metal by controlled electron-metal interactions. In<br />

particular, the emergence of Kondo phenomena (or Abrikosov-Suhl resonances) in the<br />

metallic electron system by immobilization of spin-bearing coordination compounds (Ln and<br />

Co compounds) on (A) thin surfaces or between (B) nano-structured electrodes will be<br />

studied. Thereby, the main observable parameter will be (i) in the case of surfaces: the<br />

temperature and field dependence of the resistivity of a thin metal film (ii) in the case of<br />

nanostructured electrodes the I/V dependence of a current passing through the spin-bearing<br />

molecule (Figure 28).<br />

A) B)<br />

Figure 28. Sketch of the two configurations where the Kondo effect is expected: left:<br />

(A) molecule on top of a gold film, right: (B) molecule contacted to two electrodes in a break<br />

junction setup.<br />

The requirements of the molecules are delicate: on one hand, the free spin must<br />

survive when the molecule is in contact with the surface or the electrodes and on the other<br />

hand, the electronic coupling between the free spin and the conduction electrons must be<br />

sufficiently strong to make Kondo scattering efficient (and to keep the Kondo temperature in<br />

a convenient temperature range).<br />

43

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