Intermediate spin approach to the tunneling of nano-magnets

Abstract

The theory for the quantum tunneling of nano-magnets is developed within the intermediate spin framework. Periodic magnetic effects are seen to reflect that associated with a change of flux by a single flux quantum $Φ_{0}$. Essential are Schrödinger cat wave functions which involve superpositions of different magnitudes of the applied magnetic field. For systems in which the tunneling paths are not co-planar the theory leads to essentially complex magnetic fields although the expectation values of the fields remain real. In general the ground states correspond to minimal uncertainty squeezed states. The degree of squeezing depends on the anisotropy parameters.