Assistant Professor Yuanqi Zhai's team at the Frontier Institute of Science and Technology of Xi'an Jiaotong University (XJTU) has achieved a breakthrough in quantum spin wave research through precise coordination chemistry design.

By employing a fluorido-bridging strategy combined with polydentate amino-alcohol ligands under solvothermal conditions, the team synthesized a novel 3d-4f heterometallic cluster—{Cr₂Dy₄} with a unique ferrimagnetic ground state. This cluster exhibits typical single-molecule magnet (SMM) behavior, featuring soft magnetic characteristics in its hysteresis loop (coercive field: 1000 Oe).

Using inelastic neutron scattering (INS), the team detected discrete quantized spin wave excitation peaks (108–352 GHz) in the system, marking the first experimental confirmation of quantum spin wave excitation in a single-molecule magnet. This discovery expands the functional boundaries of SMMs and opens new avenues for developing quantum spintronics.

The findings, ‌Quantum Spin Wave Excited from a Cr–Dy Single-Molecule Magnet‌, were published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society under

Spin waves transmit information without the involvement of electric charges, eliminating Joule heating losses. Electronic devices based on spin wave excitation and transmission principles can drastically reduce energy consumption. Materials capable of generating spin wave excitations have thus attracted considerable attention. Previously, such materials were predominantly inorganic bulk systems, including yttrium iron garnet (YIG), CoFeB alloys, and NiO thin films.