Sensing single molecule magnets with nitrogen vacancy centers

Abstract: Single-molecule magnets (SMMs) are molecules that can function as tiny magnets, with potential applications such as magnetic memory bits in storage devices. Current research and development of SMMs have shown their ability to maintain magnetization for a considerable amount of time at low temperatures. However, in magnetic memory applications, the molecules would probably be on a surface at room temperature, and characterizing SMMs under these conditions is challenging and requires specialized techniques. To this end, we use the nitrogen-vacancy center in diamond, which can function as a highly sensitive sensor of magnetic fields in a broad frequency range at the nanoscale. Here, we utilize single NVs to detect the magnetic noise of cobalt-based SMMs' placed on the diamond surface. We investigated the noise at 296K and at 5-8K, observing a significant influence of the SMMs on the NV center relaxation times at the different temperatures from which we infer their magnetic properties - their magnetic noise spectrum density (NSD). Moreover, we witnessed the effect of an applied magnetic field on the SMMs' magnetic NSD. The method is useful in characterizing SMMs as memory units on surfaces.