Electric-field-driven spin resonance by on-surface exchange coupling to a single-atom magnet

Abstract

Coherent control of individual atomic and molecular spins on surfaces has recently been demonstrated by using electron spin resonance (ESR) in a scanning tunneling microscope (STM). Here we present a combined experimental and modeling study of the ESR of a single hydrogenated Ti atom that is exchange-coupled to a Fe adatom located in 0.6-0.8 nm away. Continuous wave and pulsed ESR of the Ti spin showed a Rabi rate with two contributions, one from the tip and the other from the Fe, whose spin interactions with Ti were modulated by the radio-frequency electric field. The Fe contribution is comparable to the tip, as revealed from its dominance when the tip was retracted, and tunable using a vector magnetic field. Our new ESR scheme allows on-surface individual spins to be addressed and coherently controlled without the need for magnetic interaction with a tip. This study establishes a feasible implementation of spin-based multi-qubit systems on surfaces.