Slow Dynamics of the Magnetization in One-Dimensional Coordination Polymers: Single-Chain Magnets

18 pages; International audience; Slow relaxation of the magnetization (i.e., "magnet-like" behavior) in materials composed of magnetically isolated chains was observed for the first time in 2001. This type of behavior was predicted in the 1960s by Glauber in a chain of ferromagnetically coupled Ising spins (the so-called Glauber dynamics). In 2002, this new class of nanomagnets was named single-chain magnets (SCMs) by analogy to single-molecule magnets that are isolated molecules displaying related superparamagnetic properties. A long-range order occurs only at T = 0 K in any pure one-dimensional (1D) system, and thus such systems remain in their paramagnetic state at any finite temperatur…