Spin excitations in nanographene-based antiferromagnetic spin-½ Heisenberg chains

Antiferromagnetic Heisenberg chains exhibit two distinct types of excitation spectra: gapped for integer-spin chains and gapless for half-integer-spin chains. However, in finite-length half-integer-spin chains, quantization induces a gap, requiring precise control over sufficiently long chains to study its evolution. In a recent publication, we created length-controlled spin-1/2 Heisenberg chains by covalently linking olympicenes—Olympic ring-shaped magnetic nanographenes. With large exchange interactions, tunable lengths, and negligible magnetic anisotropy, this system is ideal for investigating length-dependent spin excitations, probed via inelastic electron tunneling spectroscopy. We observe a power-law decay of the lowest excitation energy with length L, following a 1/L dependence in the large-L regime, consistent with theory. For L=50, a V-shaped excitation continuum confirms gapless behavior in the thermodynamic limit. Additionally, low-bias current maps reveal the standing wave of a single spinon in odd-numbered chains. Our findings provide evidence for the realization of a one-dimensional analog of a gapless spin liquid within an artificial graphene lattice. This record includes all the data that support the results discussed in the publication.

Identifier
Source https://archive.materialscloud.org/record/2025.16
Metadata Access https://archive.materialscloud.org/xml?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=oai_dc&identifier=oai:materialscloud.org:2348
Provenance
Creator Zhao, Chenxiao; Yang, Lin; Henriques, João; Ferri-Cortés, Mar; Catarina, Gonçalo; Pignedoli, Carlo A.; Ma, Ji; Feng, Xinliang; Ruffieux, Pascal; Rossier, Joaquín; Fasel, Roman
Publisher Materials Cloud
Publication Year 2025
Rights info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess; Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode
OpenAccess true
Contact archive(at)materialscloud.org
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Language English
Resource Type Dataset
Discipline Materials Science and Engineering