Probing Kondo spin fluctuations with scanning tunneling microscopy and electron spin resonance

Abstract

We theoretically analyze a state-of-the-art experimental method based on a combination of electron spin resonance and scanning tunneling microscopy (ESR-STM), to directly probe the spin fluctuations in the Kondo effect. The Kondo impurity is exchange coupled to the probe spin, and the ESR-STM setup detects the small level shifts in the probe spin induced by the spin fluctuations of the Kondo impurity. We use the open quantum system approach by regarding the probe spin as the "system" and the Kondo impurity spin as the fluctuating "bath" to evaluate the resonance line shifts in terms of the dynamic spin susceptibility of the Kondo impurity. We consider various common adatoms on surfaces as possible probe spins and estimate the corresponding level shifts. It is found that the sensitivity is most pronounced for the probe spins with transverse magnetic anisotropy.

12 pages, 7 figures; to appear in PRB

References in corpus (8)

• The numerical renormalization group method for quantum impurity systems
• Zero-bias anomaly in a nanowire quantum dot coupled to superconductors
• Exchange interaction between single magnetic adatoms
• Long-range Kondo signature of a single magnetic impurity
• Engineering the eigenstates of coupled spin-1/2 atoms on a surface
• Kondo Effects in Carbon Nanotubes: From SU(4) to SU(2) symmetry
• Tuning the exchange bias on a single atom from 1 mT to 10 T
• Friedel oscillations and the Kondo screening cloud