Spin Excitations within Valence Delocalised Molecular Magnets

Molecular magnets are finite clusters of metal ions distributed within a crystalline lattice such that their magnetic properties persist at the nanoscale. Over the last decades such systems have represented ideal test beds to investigate the collective behaviour of unpaired electrons using inelastic neutron scattering. These studies have been performed on molecules where the unpaired electrons are localised on the cluster metal ion orbitals. Here we propose to investigate a class of molecules where electrons become mobile within the molecule resulting in a ferromagnetic interaction between electron spins, known as double exchange. Our objective is to directly measure double exchange dynamics within a molecule using INS. We will use these results to test theoretical models and to develop understanding how such molecules could be applied in molecular spintronic devices.