Temperature dependent magnetic spin and orbital moments of mass-filtered cobalt clusters on Au(111)

Mass-filtered cobalt clusters with a size of 8 nm have been deposited in-situ under soft-landing conditions onto Au(111). The spin and orbital moments of the Co nanoparticles on a Au (111) single crystal have been investigated as a function of the temperature using the element-specific method of X-ray magnetic circular dichroism in photoabsorption. The results hint at an temperature-dependent spin-reorientation transition which is discussed with respect to different contribution to the magnetic anisotropy. Furthermore, by means of an in-situ oxidation experiment, the influence of an exposure to oxygen on the properties of the cobalt clusters has been investigated.