BOWLER4	Iron phthalocyanine on silicon
Type	Theoretical
#students	1
Orientation	Why is the scientific problem of interest at all? Transition metal-based phthalocyanines are organic molecules which can carry a spin on the metal atom at their centre.  In this project, you will model the adsorption of an iron-based molecule on Si(111), developing earlier work on haem molecules on silicon.
How	How is the research going to shed light on the given problem?. Recent STM data shows very strong changes in images with voltage, and we will aim to reproduce these changes with electronic techniques.  Understanding how these molecules adsorb and can be controlled is directly applicable to spintronic applications.
What	What is the specific thing that the student will do, and how does it fit inside the overall project? The student will model the atomic, electronic and spin structure of phthalocyanines on Si(111) and generate STM images from these simulations. These will be compared with experimental data and the behavior of the molecules under different conditions on the surface will be examined.
Special Knowledge	The project is based around computational simulations, and the student will be expected to learn how to use Unix-based operating systems as well as density functional theory codes.  An interest in computing and computational and/or theoretical physics would be an advantage.
Supervisor	Dr David Bowler david.bowler@ucl.ac.uk