Antiferromagnetic MnNi tips for spin-polarized scanning probe microscopy.

Autor: Forrester PR; Institute of Physics, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland., Bilgeri T; Institute of Physics, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland., Patthey F; Institute of Physics, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland., Brune H; Institute of Physics, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland., Natterer FD; Institute of Physics, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: The Review of scientific instruments [Rev Sci Instrum] 2018 Dec; Vol. 89 (12), pp. 123706.
DOI: 10.1063/1.5042530
Abstrakt: Spin-polarized scanning tunneling microscopy (SP-STM) measures magnetoresistance with atomic resolution. While various methods for achieving SP probes have been developed, each is limited with respect to fabrication, performance, and operating conditions. In this study, we present the fabrication and use of SP-STM tips made from commercially available antiferromagnetic Mn 88 Ni 12 foils. The tips are intrinsically SP, which is attractive for exploring magnetic phenomena in the zero field limit. The tip material is relatively ductile, is straightforward to etch, and has a Néel temperature exceeding 300 K. We benchmark the topographic and spectroscopic performance of our tips and demonstrate their spin sensitivity by measuring the two-state switching of holmium single atom magnets on MgO/Ag(100).
Databáze: MEDLINE