Slowing magnetic relaxation with open-shell diluents

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Quantum Computing
• Solid-State Chemistry

Background:

• Slowing magnetic relaxation is critical for advancing spin-based technologies like quantum information processing.
• Designing the local magnetic environment offers a pathway to control magnetic relaxation rates.

Purpose of the Study:

• To demonstrate a chemical design strategy for slowing magnetic relaxation.
• To investigate the effect of embedding a cobalt complex within isostructural matrices of other open-shell species.

Main Methods:

• Embedding the open-shell complex (Ph4P)2[Co(SPh)4] in solid-state matrices of isostructural (Ph4P)2[M(SPh)4] (M = Ni2+, Fe2+, Mn2+).
• Utilizing magnetometry, electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR), and computational analyses.
• Investigating the influence of integer spin and zero-field splitting (D) values of the diluent species.

Main Results:

• Embedding the cobalt complex in specific matrices slowed magnetic relaxation by three orders of magnitude.
• Integer spin and large, positive zero-field splitting (D) values of the diluent created a 'quiet' local magnetic field.
• This quiet field effectively reduced relaxation rates for the embedded cobalt molecules.

Conclusions:

• Chemical design of the local magnetic environment is an effective strategy for slowing magnetic relaxation.
• This method facilitates the study of magnetic systems where diamagnetic counterparts are unavailable or not isostructural.
• The findings pave the way for developing novel spin-based quantum technologies.