Speaker
Description
We present an investigation, through 1H NMR and SQUID magnetometry, of the effects on the magnetic properties of Mn12tBuAc single molecule magnet (SMM) crystals hit or not by alpha and beta particles, and gamma radiations. Measurements were performed at T=2.2K as a function of an external magnetic field applied parallel to the molecules easy axis. In NMR experiments, when the field is applied after a zero-field-cooling process, the echo signal intensity registered increases following the slow relaxation of the magnetization with a characteristic time t. In SQUID measurements, following the same protocol, we monitored directly the return of the magnetization to its equilibrium value. In both cases t was reduced in the case of irradiated crystals: using SMMs for quantum detection, we identified two promising techniques to reveal ionizing particles, suggesting future studies on the interaction among SMM and other systems like neutrons and dark matter (hypothetical) particles.
