Frustrated spin chains on a square lattice

This thesis investigates intrinsic frustrated magnetic systems on an insulating square lattice. The frustrated systems were successfully engineered from magnetic iron atoms on top of an insulating square c(2x2) reconstruction of nitrogen on Cu3Au(100) (copper-gold) surface. Vertical atom manipulation was used to position the magnetic atoms atomically precise on the surface and methods were found to increase the success rate of this. For the investigation of frustration, a numerical simulator was made in Python for modelling frustrated spin structures based on already existing spin models and the following experimental measurements were taken: topography, spectroscopy and current-time traces. The simulations of a frustrated spin system show low energy excited states and the measurements show switching of the system between states