Unified theory of ultrafast femtosecond and conventional picosecond magnetic dynamics in the distorted three-center magnetic cluster Ni3Na2

Abstract

With the use of a full ab initio method, based on quantum chemical wave function methods with the inclusion of spin-orbit coupling and a static external magnetic field, we investigate the laser-induced ultrafast magnetic switching in the three-magnetic-center cluster Ni${}_{3}$Na${}_{2}$ under various static distortions. Thus we (i) establish spin dynamics as an unprecedentedly accurate sensor of the bond length between metallic centers, and (ii) derive a unified picture of ultrafast (femtosecond) and slow (ps, phonon-magnon) spin dynamics in molecular magnets by combining electron-spin and electron-lattice coupling. The resulting unexpectedly rich set of magnetic phases is exploited in order to provide time scales of phonon-magnon mediated spin dynamics in magnetic molecules.