Non-exponential relaxation and quantum tunnel splitting in molecular magnet Fe8

Abstract

Magnetic relaxation in molecular magnets under a sweeping field is studied by taking into account local stray fields. It is found that the randomness of local stray field leads to a distribution of the relaxation rate which subsequently makes the relaxation deviate from the exponential law as predicted by the Landau-Zener model such that the Landau-Zener method needs to be revised to deduce an exact tunneling splitting. The tunneling splitting and distribution width of local stray fields are derived from the experimental data for molecular magnets Fe8.