Harald Brune | EPFL Graph Search

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Originaire de Münich en Allemagne, né en 1961, Harald Brune obtient son diplôme en physique de l'Université Ludwig Maximilians en 1989. Après une thèse en chimie physique à l'Institut Fritz-Haber de la Société Max-Planck à Berlin il obtient son titre de docteur ès sciences en 1992. Dès cela, il rejoint le groupe du Prof. K. Kern à l'Institut de physique expérimentale à l'EPFL. En 1995 il est chercheur invité à Copenhague travaillant en modélisation chez le Prof. J. Nørskov. De retour à l'EPFL, il se voit décerné le prix Latsis EPFL 1996 pour ses études par microscopie à effet tunnel de processus atomiques déterminants la croissance cristalline de couches minces. En 1998 il obtient son habilitation (venia legendi) en Physique et est nommé Maître d'enseignement et de recherche (MER) en nanophysique à l'EPFL. La même année il recoit une offre de Professeur Ordinaire (C4) de l'Université Philipps de Marburg. Début 1999 il réfuse cette offre et accepte un poste de Professeur Extraordinaire à l'EPFL et s'installe au sein de l'Institut de la Physique des Nanostructures. Il est nommé Professeur Ordinaire en 2005. Sa recherche porte sur les propriétés physiques (en particulier le magnétisme et la structure électronique) de nouvelles formes de la matière condensée comme des nanostructures et des couches ultra-minces. Il s'intéresse également à la catalyse hétérogène sur des systèmes inspirés dans leur composition et taille par celle des sites actives dans les enzymes en biologie. Il enseigne la Physique Générale pour ingénieurs, la Physique des matériaux solides pour physiciens, les méthodes expérimentales pour physiciens, ainsi que la Physique des surfaces, interfaces et nanostrcutures à l'école doctorale.

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MSE-664: CCMX Winter School - Surface Science: Fundamentals, Properties and Selected Applications

This course is designed to cover a series of important scientific aspects of surface science and to provide an in-depth review of their corresponding fundamentals. It is organised as a retreat over one week, with 9 modules consisting of presentations given by lecturers and the participants.

Scanning tunneling microscope

A scanning tunneling microscope (STM) is a type of microscope used for imaging surfaces at the atomic level. Its development in 1981 earned its inventors, Gerd Binnig and Heinrich Rohrer, then at IB

Scanning probe microscopy

Scanning probe microscopy (SPM) is a branch of microscopy that forms images of surfaces using a physical probe that scans the specimen. SPM was founded in 1981, with the invention of the scanning tunn

Magnetism

Magnetism is the class of physical attributes that occur through a magnetic field, which allows objects to attract or repel each other. Because both electric currents and magnetic moments of element

Erbium and thulium on MgO(100)/Ag(100) as candidates for single atom qubits

Harald Brune, Fabio Donati, Edgar Fernandes, François Patthey, Marina Pivetta, Stefano Rusponi, Aparajita Singha

Lanthanide atoms on surfaces are an exceptional platform for atomic-scale magnetic information storage. However, their potential as qubits remains unexplored due to the limited number of experimental setups that can coherently drive the spins of single adatoms. Here we propose a combined experimental and theoretical method to estimate the performance of surface-adsorbed lanthanide atoms for quantum coherent operations. We investigate Er and Tm on MgO(100)/Ag(100) with x-ray absorption spectroscopy to address their magnetic and electronic properties and with scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) to identify their adsorption sites. With atomic multiplet calculations and density functional theory, we infer for both atoms a magnetic ground state that is suitable for quantum coherent operations. We investigate whether these systems lend themselves to electron spin resonance scanning tunneling microscopy (ESR-STM). By adapting the piezoelectric model of ESR-STM to the case of lanthanide atoms, we show that these systems should exhibit a detectable signal and that they have a higher Rabi rate compared to the systems studied up to date. In addition to their suitable electron spin properties, these elements possess a nontrivial nuclear spin that could be exploited to perform two-qubit operations on a single atom or to store quantum states in the nuclear spin.

AMER PHYSICAL SOC2023

The Impact of Lattice Distortions on the Magnetic Stability of Single Atoms: Dy and Ho on BaO(100)

Harald Brune, Darius Constantin Merk, Marina Pivetta, Sébastien Reynaud, Stefano Rusponi, Boris Sorokin

X-ray magnetic circular dichroism, atomic multiplet simulations, and density functional theory calculations are employed to identify criteria for the optimum combination of supporting alkaline earth oxide and adsorption site maximizing the spin lifetimes of lanthanide single-atom magnets. Dy and Ho atoms adsorbed on BaO(100) thin films on Pt(100) are characterized and compared with previous results for the same two elements on MgO/Ag(100). Dy shows hysteresis in magnetic fields up to approximate to 3.5 T and long spin lifetime, exceeding 300 s at 2.5 K and 0.5 T. Dy displays superior magnetic stability on the bridge site than on the top-O site. Surprisingly, Ho shows paramagnetism, as opposed to its long spin lifetime on MgO. These differences originate from the local surface distortions induced by the adatoms. On MgO, minimal distortions involve only the closest O atoms, while, on BaO, they affect both the closest anions and cations. This trend reflects the decrease of the lattice energy along the series of the alkaline earth oxides, going from MgO to BaO. This study represents a step ahead in the understanding of the factors determining the spin dynamics of surface-adsorbed single-atom magnets in order to achieve their operation as qubits and memories.

WILEY-V C H VERLAG GMBH2023

Valence Orbitals Driving the Spin Dynamics in a Rare-Earth Single-Atom Magnet

Harald Brune, Alberto Curcella, François Patthey, Marina Pivetta, Stefano Rusponi, Dante Philippe Sblendorio

We combine spin-polarized scanning tunneling microscopy with quantum master equation analysis to investigate the spin dynamics of the single atom magnet Dy on graphene/Ir(111). By performing reading and writing experiments, we show that the strongly spin polarized 5d6s valence shells, as well as their intra-atomic exchange coupling to the 4f shell, determine the pathways for magnetization relaxation and thus the spin dynamics. The good quantum number that determines which states are stable and which mechanisms for reversal exist in a given crystal field is the atomic total angular momentum J(z)(tot) and not the commonly considered J(z)(4f) of the 4f shell only.

AMER PHYSICAL SOC2023