Lanthanide molecular nanomagnets as probabilistic bits

Abstract

Over the decades, the spin dynamics of a large set of lanthanide complexes have been explored. Lanthanide-based molecular nanomagnets are bistable spin systems, generally conceptualised as classical bits, but many lanthanide complexes have also been presented as candidate quantum bits (qubits). Here, we offer a third alternative and model them as probabilistic bits (p-bits), where their stochastic behaviour constitutes a computational resource instead of a limitation. Employing an ad-hoc modelling tool for molecular spin p-bits and molecular nanomagnets, we simulate a minimal p-bit network under realistic conditions. Finally, we go back to a recently published dataset and screen the best lanthanide complexes for p-bit behaviour, lay out the performance of the different lanthanide ions and chemical families and offer some chemical design considerations.