In-Situ Manipulation of the Magnetic Anisotropy of Single Mn Atom via Molecular Ligands

Magnetic anisotropy is essential for permanent magnets to maintain their magnetization along specific directions. Understanding and controlling the magnetic anisotropy on a single-molecule scale are challenging but of fundamental importance for the future's spintronic technology. Here, by using scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), we demonstrated the ability to control the magnetic anisotropy by tuning the ligand field at the single-molecule level. We constructed a molecular magnetic complex with a single Mn atom and an organic molecule (4,4'-biphenyldicarbonitrile) as a ligand via atomic manipulation. Inelastic tunneling spectra (IETS) show that the Mn complex has much larger axial magnetic anisotropy than individual Mn atoms, and the anisotropy energy can be tuned by the coupling strength of the ligand. With density functional theory calculations, we revealed that the enhanced magnetic anisotropy of Mn arising from the carbonitrile ligand provides a prototype for the engineering of the magnetism of quantum devices.