February 2012
Researchers of the NanoElectronics Group in collaboration with the Molecular Nanofabrication and BioMolecular Chemistry groups have developed a conceptually novel and easy approach to dope metal films with a tunable amount of magnetic impurities from a molecular monolayer. This technique is proposed as a powerful way to reach unprecedented impurity concentrations, while avoiding undesired aggregation or segregation. This should pave the way for further study of spin phenomena that lie at the very heart of solid-state physics, such as the Kondo effect, RKKY interaction, spin glasses, and magnetic phase transitions. The research was published in the leading scientific journal Nature Nanotechnology (doi:10.1038/nnano.2012.1).
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Artist impression by Nymus3D
Tunable doping of a metal with molecular spins
T. Gang, M. Deniz Yilmaz, D. Ataç, S. K. Bose, E. Strambini, A. H. Velders, M. P. de Jong, J. Huskens & W. G. van der Wiel
Nature Nanotechnology, published online February 5, 2012