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Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2009, 11, 6743 - 6749, DOI: 10.1039/b908460f

Magnetic quantum tunneling: key insights from multi-dimensional high-field EPR

J. Lawrence, E.-C. Yang, D. N. Hendrickson and S. Hill

Multi-dimensional high-field/frequency electron paramagnetic resonance (HFEPR) spectroscopy is performed on single-crystals of the high-symmetry spin S = 4 tetranuclear single-molecule magnet (SMM) [Ni(hmp)(dmb)Cl]4, where hmp- is the anion of 2-hydroxymethylpyridine and dmb is 3,3-dimethyl-1-butanol. Measurements performed as a function of the applied magnetic field strength and its orientation within the hard-plane reveal the four-fold behavior associated with the fourth order transverse zero-field splitting (ZFS) interaction, ½B44(4+ + 4-), within the framework of a rigid spin approximation (with S = 4). This ZFS interaction mixes the ms = ±4 ground states in second order of perturbation, generating a sizeable (12 MHz) tunnel splitting, which explains the fast magnetic quantum tunneling in this SMM. Meanwhile, multi-frequency measurements performed with the field parallel to the easy-axis reveal HFEPR transitions associated with excited spin multiplets (S < 4). Analysis of the temperature dependence of the intensities of these transitions enables determination of the isotropic Heisenberg exchange constant, J = -6.0 cm-1, which couples the four spin s = 1 NiII ions within the cluster, as well as a characterization of the ZFS within excited states. The combined experimental studies support recent work indicating that the fourth order anisotropy associated with the S = 4 state originates from second order ZFS interactions associated with the individual NiII centers, but only as a result of higher-order processes that occur via S-mixing between the ground state and higher-lying (S < 4) spin multiplets. We argue that this S-mixing plays an important role in the low-temperature quantum dynamics associated with many other well known SMMs.

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