Standing Spin Waves in an Antiferromagnetic Molecular Cr6 Horseshoe

The antiferromagnetic molecular finite chain Cr6 was studied by inelastic neutron scattering. The observed magnetic excitations at 2.6 and 4.3 meV correspond, due to the open boundaries of a finite chain, to standing spin waves. The determined energy spectrum revealed an essentially classical spin structure. Hence, various spin-wave theories were investigated in order to assess their potential for describing the elementary excitations of finite spin systems.
Comment: 6 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in Europhysics Letters