Are you an EPFL student looking for a semester project?
Work with us on data science and visualisation projects, and deploy your project as an app on top of GraphSearch.
We report magnetic hysteresis in Er clusters on. Cu(111) starting from the size-of three atoms. combining Xray magnetic circular dichroism, scanning tunneling microscopy, and mean-field nucleation theory, we determine the size dependent magnetic properties of the Er clusters. Er atoms and dimers-are paramagnetic, and their easy magnetization axes are oriented in-plane. In contrast, timers and bigger dusters exhibit magnetic hysteresis at 2.5 K with a relaxation time of 2 min at 0.1 T and out-of-plane easy axis. This appearance of magnetic stability for trimers coincides with their enhanced structural stability.