Single-crystal EPR spectroscopy of a Co(II) single-chain magnet

An electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) study of a single crystal of Co II -based single-chain magnets (SCM) is presented. Discrete resonant absorptions are associated to the presence of magnetic domains within the chains of finite lengths determined by a competition between intra-chain exchange interactions and thermally excited single spin fluctuations. The results are interpreted as a transition from single spin dynamics at high temperature ( T ∼20 K), associated to the Kramers doublet ground state of the individual Co II ions, to archetypical SCM dynamics at low temperatures, where intra-chain correlations form long magnetic domains, whose average length is imposed by the concentration of defects in the sample.