π-Electron-Assisted Relaxation of Spin Excited States in Cobalt Phthalocyanine Molecules on Au(111) Surface

We present our investigation on the spin relaxation of cobalt phthalocyanine (CoPc) films on Au(111) (CoPc/Au(111)) surface using scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy. The spin relaxation time derived from the linewidth of spin-flip inelastic electron tunneling spectroscopy is quantitatively analyzed according to the Korringa-like formula. We find that although this regime of the spin relaxation time calculation by just considering the exchange interaction between itinerant conduction electrons and localized d-shells (s-d exchange interaction) can successfully reproduce the experimental value of the adsorbed magnetic atom, it fails in our case of CoPc/Au(111). Instead, we can obtain the relaxation time that is in good agreement with the experimental result by considering the fact that the π electrons in CoPc molecules are spin polarized, where the spin polarized π electrons extended at the Pc macrocycle may also scatter the conduction electrons in addition to the localized d spins. Our analyses indicate that the scattering by the π electrons provides an efficient spin relaxation channel in addition to the s-d interaction and thus leads to much short relaxation time in such a kind of molecular system on a metal substrate.