Kondo engineering : from single Kondo impurity to the Kondo lattice

Abstract

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.