Manipulation and readout of spin states of a single-molecule magnet by a spin-polarized current

Abstract

Single-molecule memory device based on a single-molecule magnet (SMM) is one of the ultimate goals of semiconductor nanofabrication technologies. Here, we study how to manipulate and readout the SMM's two spin-state of stored information that characterized by the maximum and minimum average value of the $Z$-component of the total spin of the SMM and the conduction-electron, which are recognized as the information bits "$1$" and "$0$". We demonstrate that the switching time depends on both the sequential tunneling gap $\varepsilon_{se}$ and the spin-selection-rule allowed transition-energy $\varepsilon_{trans}$, which can be tuned by the gate voltage. In particular, when the external bias voltage is turned off, in the cases of the unoccupied and doubly-occupied ground eigenstates, the time derivative of the transport current can be used to read out the SMM's two spin-state of stored information. Moreover, the tunneling strength of and the asymmetry of the SMM-electrode coupling have a strong influence on the switching time, but that have a slight influence on the readout time that being on the order of nanoseconds. Our results suggest a SMM-based memory device, and provide fundamental insight into the electrical controllable manipulation and readout of the SMM's two spin-state of stored information.