Negative Magnetoresistance and Spin Filtering of Spin-Coupled Diiron-Oxo Clusters

Abstract

Spin dependent transport has been investigated for an {\it open shell singlet} diiron-oxo cluster. Currents and magnetoresistances have been studied, as a function of spin state, within the non-equilibrium Green's function approach. The applied bias can be used for tuning the sign of the observed magnetoresistance. A colossal magnetoresistance ratio has been determined, on the order of to 6000$%$, for hydrogen anchoring. Applied biases lower than 0.3 V, in conjunction with sulfur anchoring, induce a negative magnetoresistance due to lowering of the anchor-scatterer tunneling barrier. In addition, the diiron-oxo cluster displays nearly perfect spin filtering for parallel alignment of the iron magnetic moments due to energetic proximity, relative to the Fermi level, of its highest occupied molecular orbitals.