Investigation of the strain-affected ultrafast spin switching on cobalt-doped carbon fullerenes

In recent years, the endohedral metallofullerenes have drawn wide attention of scientists and given new impetus to the efforts toward the practical application in novel single molecular devices [1-2]. Especially, as single-molecule magnets, endohedral fullerenes can realize robust and chemically protected spin systems, and are promising candidates for molecular spintronics owing to their long magnetic relaxation times [3]. The research on spin dynamics of endohedral fullerenes is worthy and imperative, but still scarce. Here, we take one- and two-magnetic-center Co-doped carbon fullerenes, specifically [Co@C₆₀]⁺ and Co₂@C₆₀, as examples to study their ultrafast, laser-induced, spin dynamics through ab initio calculations. The strain modulation on the spin-switching behavior is also explored.