Skip to main content

Molecular Foundry

HIGHLIGHTSSpin-Dependent Vibronic Response of Carbon Radical Ions in 2D Tungsten Disulfide
February 17, 2022

Scientific Achievement

a, b Atomic structure of a carbon-hydrogen complex (CHS) and a carbon (CS) substituent at a sulfur site in WS2. The pathway of the tip for the dehydrogenation process is shown in (a). c, d Constant height CO-tip nc-AFM images of the CHS (c) and CS (d) defect.

Foundry staff and users created a new spin-1/2 system by generating magnetic carbon radical ions (CRIs) in two-dimensional tungsten disulfide with atomic precision and characterized the vibronic coupling of their spin-polarized defect states.

Significance and Impact

This work introduces a new type of magnetic defect that can be created with atomic precision while keeping the surrounding atomic structure virtually unchanged. The system provides a new building block for developing quantum technologies.

Research Details

  • The research team created carbon impurity defects at chalcogen sites using scanning tunneling microscopy (STM)-induced hydrogen desorption from carbon-hydrogen complexes in WS2 and WSe2, generating a carbon radical ion in WS2 with a net magnetic moment of 1 µB.
  • The researchers used inelastic transport spectroscopy and density functional theory (DFT) calculations to quantify the vibronic coupling of a single CRI to the host lattice.
  • They determined that the electron–phonon coupling is dominated by a few modes only, whose coupling strengths is stronger for monolayer WS2 as compared to bilayer WS2.
  • The variations in the coupling strengths between different defect orbitals further revealed that the vibronic coupling in CRIs is spin-dependent.
Cochrane, K.A., Lee, JH., Kastl, C., Haber, J.B., Zhang, T., Kozhakhmetov, A., Robinson, J.A., Terrones, M., Repp, J., Neaton, J.B., Weber-Bargioni, A., Schuler, B. Nat. Commun. 12, 7287 (2021). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-27585-x

Was this page useful?

Send
like not like