A Complete Ab Initio View of Orbach and Raman Spin–Lattice Relaxation in a Dysprosium Coordination Compound

The unique electronic and magnetic properties of lanthanide molecular complexes place them at the forefront of the race toward high-temperature single-molecule magnets and magnetic quantum bits. The design of compounds of this class has so far being almost exclusively driven by static crystal field considerations, with an emphasis on increasing the magnetic anisotropy barrier. Now that this guideline has reached its maximum potential, a deeper understanding of spin-phonon relaxation mechanisms presents itself as key in order to drive synthetic chemistry beyond simple intuition. In this work, we compute relaxation times fully ab initio and unveil the nature of all spin-phonon relaxation mechanisms, namely Orbach and Raman pathways, in a prototypical Dy single-molecule magnet. Computational predictions are in agreement with the experimental determination of spin relaxation time and crystal field anisotropy, and show that Raman relaxation, dominating at low temperature, is triggered by low-energy phonons and little affected by further engineering of crystal field axiality. A comprehensive analysis of spin-phonon coupling mechanism reveals that molecular vibrations beyond the ion’s first coordination shell can also assume a prominent role in spin relaxation through an electrostatic polarization effect. Therefore, this work shows the way forward in the field by delivering a novel and complete set of chemically sound design rules tackling every aspect of spin relaxation at any temperature.