Direct Detection of Magnetoelectric effect in Fe3 Trimer using a tunnel diode oscillator detector.

Single-molecule magnets have many potentially useful applications. Their ability to maintain persistent magnetic states could allow them to be used for classical memory devices, and they may be useable as a quantum bit for computation. The ability to manipulate the magnetic state of a single-molecule magnet through an electrically driven magnetoelectric effect is especially appealing. Electric fields do not require a persistent current to maintain, and thus can be varied on small time and length scales. We report evidence of a change in the magnetic susceptibility of an Iron 3 single-molecule magnet trimer due to an applied electric field of approximately 16 ppb per kV/m. These results represent a direct measurement through use of a tunnel diode oscillator as a susceptometer. These results were conducted between 8 and 20 Kelvin with a maximum applied field of 62 kV/m. We also report preliminary results on other single-molecule compounds.