Magnetic excitations in polyoxometalate tetrameric clusters

Abstract The metal-oxide clusters with formula [M4(D2O)2(PW9O34)2]10− which contain a tetrameric magnetic cluster M4O16 provide an ideal series for the study of magnetic exchange interactions in polymetallic molecular clusters. To get a more direct information on the splitting of the spin states caused by the exchange interactions we have performed inelastic neutron scattering measurements on the Co, Mn and Ni clusters. Magnetic excitations have been observed in the range 0.5–6 meV. A tentative interpretation of these data from a Heisenberg exchange Hamiltonian and a single ion zero-field splitting is presented for Ni cluster.