Chiral Nano-Magnets: toward reading the up/down-spin state with light – CHIRnMAG

The CHIRnMAG project is dedicated to the investigation of the magneto-chiral dichroism exhibited by low dimensional molecular magnets, i.e. SMMs and SCMs. The proposed study is aimed at demonstrating that light could be used to read the spin state (up or down) of such materials without altering the stored information. It will be implemented in three well defined and complementary tasks. The first deals with the synthesis of chiral nano-magnets suitable for the envisioned magneto-chiral dichroism (MChD) studies. Specifically designed enantio-pure ligands will be used to induce the formation of optically actives heteronuclear assemblages. These nano-magnets will be designed to best suite the envisaged magneto-chiral investigations (strong natural optical activity, efficient luminescent or absorption) and to exhibit optimized magnetic behaviors (high blocking temperature, low relaxation rates, etc.). The second task concerns accurate investigation and analysis of the magnetic properties that will allow selecting the most promising compounds. Finally the investigation of the magneto-chiral anisotropy will be performed on selected compounds under task three. The fact that magneto-chiral effects occur when the medium interacts with non-polarized light, i.e. they are is polarization-independent, makes their detection much simpler than other magneto-optical effects such as the Kerr and Faraday effects, which are polarization-differential; thereby increasing their attractiveness for applications. The proposed investigations will be conducted by three partners comprising synthetic chemists and physicits expert in magnetism and magneto-optical properties.