Tunnel splitting and quantum phase interference in biaxial ferrimagnetic particles at excited states

Abstract

The tunneling splitting in biaxial ferrimagnetic particles at excited states with an explicit calculation of the prefactor of exponent is obtained in terms of periodic instantons which are responsible for tunneling at excited states and is shown as a function of magnetic field applied along an arbitrary direction in the plane of hard and medium axes. Using complex time path-integral we demonstrate the oscillation of tunnel splitting with respect to the magnitude and the direction of the magnetic field due to the quantum phase interference of two tunneling paths of opposite windings . The oscillation is gradually smeared and in the end the tunnel splitting monotonously increases with the magnitude of the magnetic field when the direction of the magnetic field tends to the medium axis. The oscillation behavior is similar to the recent experimental observation with Fe$_8$ molecular clusters. A candidate of possible experiments to observe the effect of quantum phase interference in the ferrimagnetic particles is proposed.