No Arabic abstract
We show that a self-assembled phase of potassium (K) doped single-layer para-sexiphenyl (PSP) film on gold substrate is an excellent platform for studying the two-impurity Kondo model. On K-doped PSP molecules well separated from others, we find a Kondo resonance peak near EF with a Kondo temperature of about 30 K. The Kondo resonance peak splits when another K-doped PSP molecule is present in the vicinity, and the splitting gradually increases with the decreased inter-molecular distance, with no signs of phase transition. Our data demonstrate how a Kondo singlet state gradually evolves into an antiferromagnetic singlet state due to the competition between Kondo screening and antiferromagnetic RKKY coupling, as described in the two-impurity Kondo model. Intriguingly, the antiferromagnetic singlet is destroyed quickly upon increasing temperature and transforms back to a Kondo singlet well below the Kondo temperature. Our data provide a comprehensive picture and quantitative constraints on related theories and calculations of two-impurity Kondo model.
The underscreened Kondo effect is studied within a model of two impurities S=1 interacting with the conduction band and via an interimpurity coupling $Kvec{S_1}.vec{S_2}$. Using a mean-field treatment of the bosonized Hamiltonian, we show that there is no phase transition, but a continuous cross-over versus K from a non Kondo behaviour to an underscreened Kondo one. For a small antiferromagnetic coupling (K>0), a completely asymmetric situation is obtained with one s=${1/2}$ component strongly screened by the Kondo effect and the other one almost free to yield indirect magnetism, which shows finally a possible coexistence between a RKKY interaction and a local Kondo effect, as observed in Uranium compounds such as $UPt_3$.
In the first step, experiments on a single cerium or ytterbium Kondo impurity reveal the importance of the Kondo temperature by comparison to other type of couplings like the hyperfine interaction, the crystal field and the intersite coupling. The extension to a lattice is discussed. Emphasis is given on the fact that the occupation number $n_f$ of the trivalent configuration may be the implicit key variable even for the Kondo lattice. Three $(P, H, T)$ phase diagrams are discussed: CeRu$_2$Si$_2$, CeRhIn$_5$ and SmS.
Recently, superconductivity in potassium (K) doped p-terphenyl (C18H14) has been suggested by the possible observation of the Meissner effect and subsequent photoemission spectroscopy measurements, but the detailed lattice structure and more-direct evidence are still lacking. Here we report a low temperature scanning tunneling microscopy/spectroscopy (STM/STS) study on K-doped single layer p-terphenyl films grown on Au (111). We observe several ordered phases with different morphologies and electronic behaviors, in two of which a sharp and symmetric low-energy gap of about 11 meV opens below 50 K. In particular, the gap shows no obvious response to a magnetic field up to 11 Tesla, which would caution against superconductivity as an interpretation in previous reports of K-doped p-terphenyl materials. Such gapped phases are rarely (if ever) observed in single layer hydrocarbon molecular crystals. Our work also paves the way for fabricating doped two-dimensional (2D) hydrocarbon materials, which will provide a platform to search for novel emergent phenomena.
We study the low-temperature properties of the generalized Anderson impurity model in which two localized configurations, one with two doublets and the other with a triplet, are mixed by two degenerate conduction channels. By using the numerical renormalization group and the non-crossing approximation, we analyze the impurity entropy, its spectral density, and the equilibrium conductance for several values of the model parameters. Marked differences with respect to the conventional one-channel spin $s=1/2$ Anderson model, that can be traced as hallmarks of an impurity spin $S=1$, are found in the Kondo temperature, the width and position of the charge transfer peak, as well as the temperature dependence of the equilibrium conductance. Furthermore, we analyze the rich effects of a single-ion magnetic anisotropy $D$ on the Kondo behavior. In particular, as shown before, for large enough positive $D$ the system behaves as a non-Landau Fermi liquid that cannot be adiabatically connected to a non-interacting system turning off the interactions. For negative $D$ the Kondo effect is strongly suppressed. The model studied is suitable for a comprehensive analysis for recent investigations of a single Ni impurity embedded into an Au chain.
By means of ab initio calculations we study the effect of O-doping of Au chains containing a nanocontact represented by a Ni atom as a magnetic impurity. In contrast to pure Au chains, we find that with a minimun O-doping the $5d_{xz,yz}$ states of Au are pushed up, crossing the Fermi level. We also find that for certain O configurations, the Ni atom has two holes in the degenerate $3d_{xz,yz}$ orbitals, forming a spin $S=1$ due to a large Hund interaction. The coupling between the $5d_{xz,yz}$ Au bands and the $3d_{xz,yz}$ of Ni states leads to a possible realization of a two-channel $S=1$ Kondo effect. While this kind of Kondo effect is commonly found in bulk systems, it is rarely observed in low dimensions. The estimated Kondo scale of the system lies within the present achievable experimental resolution in transport measurements. Another possible scenario for certain atomic configurations is that one of the holes resides in a $3d_{z^2}$ orbital, leading to a two-stage Kondo effect, the second one with SU(4) symmetry.