Excitation of spin waves by tunnelling electrons in one-dimensional ferro and anti-ferromagnets

Abstract

Excitation of finite chains of magnetic atoms adsorbed on a surface by tunnelling electrons from an STM (Scanning Tunnelling Microscope) tip is studied using a Heisenberg Hamiltonian description of the magnetic couplings along the chain and a strong coupling approach of inelastic tunnelling. The excitation probability of the magnetic levels is very high and the excitation spectra in chains of different lengths are very similar. The excitations in finite chains can be considered as spin waves quantized in the finite object. The energy and momentum spectra of the spin waves excited in the idealized infinite chain by tunnelling electrons are determined from the results on the finite chains. Both ferro- and antiferromagnetic couplings are considered, leading to very different results. In particular, in the anti-ferromagnetic case, excitations linked to the entanglement of the chain ground state are evidenced.