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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Shushkov, Philip
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2401.16738
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author Shushkov, Philip
author_facet Shushkov, Philip
contents The interaction of electronic spin and molecular vibrations mediated by spin-orbit coupling governs spin relaxation in molecular qubits. I derive an extended molecular spin Hamiltonian that includes both adiabatic and non-adiabatic spin-dependent interactions, and I implement the computation of its matrix elements using state-of-the-art density functional theory. The new molecular spin Hamiltonian contains a novel spin-vibrational orbit interaction with non-adiabatic origin together with the traditional molecular Zeeman and zero-field splitting interactions with adiabatic origin. The spin-vibrational orbit interaction represents a non-Abelian Berry curvature on the ground-state electronic manifold and corresponds to an effective magnetic field in the electronic spin dynamics. I further develop a spin relaxation rate model that estimates the spin relaxation time via the two-phonon Raman process. An application of the extended molecular spin Hamiltonian together with the spin relaxation rate model to Cu(II) porphyrin, a prototypical $S=1/2$ molecular qubit, demonstrates that the spin relaxation time at elevated temperatures is dominated by the non-adiabatic spin-vibrational orbit interaction. The computed spin relaxation rate and its magnetic field orientation dependence are in excellent agreement with experimental measurements.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2401_16738
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle A novel non-adiabatic spin relaxation mechanism in molecular qubits
Shushkov, Philip
Chemical Physics
The interaction of electronic spin and molecular vibrations mediated by spin-orbit coupling governs spin relaxation in molecular qubits. I derive an extended molecular spin Hamiltonian that includes both adiabatic and non-adiabatic spin-dependent interactions, and I implement the computation of its matrix elements using state-of-the-art density functional theory. The new molecular spin Hamiltonian contains a novel spin-vibrational orbit interaction with non-adiabatic origin together with the traditional molecular Zeeman and zero-field splitting interactions with adiabatic origin. The spin-vibrational orbit interaction represents a non-Abelian Berry curvature on the ground-state electronic manifold and corresponds to an effective magnetic field in the electronic spin dynamics. I further develop a spin relaxation rate model that estimates the spin relaxation time via the two-phonon Raman process. An application of the extended molecular spin Hamiltonian together with the spin relaxation rate model to Cu(II) porphyrin, a prototypical $S=1/2$ molecular qubit, demonstrates that the spin relaxation time at elevated temperatures is dominated by the non-adiabatic spin-vibrational orbit interaction. The computed spin relaxation rate and its magnetic field orientation dependence are in excellent agreement with experimental measurements.
title A novel non-adiabatic spin relaxation mechanism in molecular qubits
topic Chemical Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2401.16738