Electronic and magnetic states of Mn2 and Mn2H on Ag(111)

Abstract

Manganese dimers on Ag(111) are investigated with scanning tunneling microscopy and density functional calculations. Two species of dimers coexist that differ in their apparent heights and the absence or presence of submolecular structure. These species can be interconverted by electron and hole injection from the microscope tip. Calculations identify the two kinds of dimers as pristine ${\mbox{M}}{{{\mbox{n}}}_{2}}$ and ${\mbox{M}}{{{\mbox{n}}}_{2}}{\mbox{H}}$ and show that hydrogen attachment to ${\mbox{M}}{{{\mbox{n}}}_{2}}$ leads to marked changes in the dimer electronic and magnetic structure. Antiferromagnetic coupling between Mn magnetic moments in ${\mbox{M}}{{{\mbox{n}}}_{2}}{\mbox{H}}$ leaves its spectroscopic signature in the electronic structure of the monohydride compound.

Keywords

• magnetism at the nanometre scale
• atomic-scale clusters on surfaces
• scanning tunnelling microscopy
• density functional theory
• 68.37.Ef
• 68.43.-h