Three-atom magnets with strong substrate coupling: a gateway towards non-collinear spin processing

Abstract

A cluster composed of a few magnetic atoms assembled on the surface of a nonmagnetic substrate is one suitable realization of a bit for future concepts of spin-based information technology. The prevalent approach to achieve magnetic stability of the bit is decoupling the cluster spin from substrate conduction electrons in order to suppress spin-flips destabilizing the bit. However, this route entails less flexibility in tailoring the coupling between the bits which is ultimately needed for spin-processing. Here, we show using a spin-resolved scanning tunneling microscope, that we can write, read, and store spin information for hours in clusters of only three atoms strongly coupled to a substrate featuring a cloud of non-collinearly polarized host atoms, a so called non-collinear giant moment cluster (GMC). The GMC can be driven into a Kondo screened state by simply moving one of its atoms to a different site. Owing to the exceptional atomic tunability of the non-collinear substrate mediated Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction, novel concepts of spin-based information technology get within reach, as we demonstrate by a logical scheme for a four-bit register.