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Inelastic electron tunneling spectroscopy
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<h2 id="stm-iets">STM-IETS</h2> <p>Keeping the tip of a <a href="/facts/Scanning_tunneling_microscope/LQ4BzmwP">scanning tunneling microscope</a> (STM) at fixed position over the surface and sweeping the bias voltage, one can record a I-V characteristic. This technique is called <a href="/facts/Scanning_tunneling_spectroscopy/lxeVmHtJ">scanning tunneling spectroscopy</a> (STS). The first derivative gives information about the local density of states (LDOS) of the substrate, assuming that the tip has a constant density of states. The second derivative gives information on vibrations of the adsorbate as in IETS, which is why this technique is commonly called STM-IETS. In this case the role of the insulating oxide layer is played by the gap between the tip and the adsorbate. </p><p>STM-IETS was first demonstrated by Stipe, Rezaei and Ho in 1998, seventeen years after the development of the STM.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:8" href="#fn:8"><sup>8</sup></a> The requirements of cryogenic temperatures and extreme mechanical stability (mechanical vibrations of the tip over the adsorbate must have amplitudes in the range of <a href="/facts/Picometers/Cb54mVBX">picometers</a> or less) make this technique experimentally challenging to realize. </p><p>In recent years molecular transport junctions have been produced with one single molecule between two electrodes, sometimes with an additional gate electrode near the molecule.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:9" href="#fn:9"><sup>9</sup></a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:10" href="#fn:10"><sup>10</sup></a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:11" href="#fn:11"><sup>11</sup></a> The advantage of this method in comparison with STM-IETS is that there is contact between both electrodes and the adsorbate, whereas in STM-IETS there is always a tunneling gap between the tip and the adsorbate. The disadvantage of this method is that it is experimentally very challenging to create and identify a junction with exactly one molecule between the electrodes. </p><p>The STM-IETS technique was extended to the spin excitations of an individual atom by <a href="/facts/Andreas_J._Heinrich/McUMRplU">Andreas J. Heinrich</a>, J. A. Gupta, C. Lutz and <a href="/facts/Don_Eigler/jJMUvN1g">Don Eigler</a> in 2004, at IBM Almaden.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:12" href="#fn:12"><sup>12</sup></a> Specifically, they probed transition between Zeeman split states of Mn atom on various surfaces conducting surfaces coated with insulating thin films. The technique was later applied to probe atomic spin transitions of Mn spin chains of up to 10 atoms, assembled one by one, also in IBM Almaden in 2006, in a team led by Andreas J. Heinrich.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:13" href="#fn:13"><sup>13</sup></a> The results showed that the Mn spin chain was a realization of the one dimensional <a href="/facts/Heisenberg_model_(classical)/RpyLfhNX">Heisenberg model</a> for S=5/2 spins. STM-IETS was also used to measure the atomic spin transitions split by single ion magnetic anisotropy of individual atoms<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:14" href="#fn:14"><sup>14</sup></a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:15" href="#fn:15"><sup>15</sup></a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:16" href="#fn:16"><sup>16</sup></a> and molecules.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:17" href="#fn:17"><sup>17</sup></a> The underlying physical mechanism that permits tunnelling electrons to excite atomic spin transitions has been studied by several authors.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:18" href="#fn:18"><sup>18</sup></a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:19" href="#fn:19"><sup>19</sup></a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:20" href="#fn:20"><sup>20</sup></a> Whereas the most frequent mode of operation probes spin excitations from the ground state to excited states, the possibility to drive the system away from equilibrium and probe transition between excited states, as well as the possibility of controlling the spin orientation of single atoms with spin polarized currents were also reported.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:21" href="#fn:21"><sup>21</sup></a> In the case of coupled spin structures, the technique provides information not only about the energies spin excitations, but also about their spread across the structure, making it possible to image the spin wave modes in nanoengineered spin chains.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:22" href="#fn:22"><sup>22</sup></a> </p> <h2 id="references">References</h2> <ol> <li id="fn:1"><p>Langan, J; Hansma, P (1975). 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