Electronic interactions between gold films and mn12-acetate

Abstract

Interactions between Mn12–acetate molecular magnets and thin gold films have been explored in light of the theory of weak localization. Low-temperature measurements of the magnetoresistance of gold films of varying thicknesses, with and without the presence of a surface layer of Mn12–acetate, have been performed using a dilution refrigerator. Quantitative fits to the data using the predictions of weak localization theory were performed using a least-squares fit method in order to determine characteristic times for elastic, inelastic, spin-orbit and spin scattering events within the gold. These data indicate that the presence of Mn12–acetate on the surface of the gold film leads to a significant enhancement of the spin scattering within the gold films.