CPM Seminar

Spin-Polarized Tunneling Microscopy and the Kondo Effect

Kelly Patton

Institut für Theoretische Physik, Universität Hamburg

The Kondo effect has become one of the hallmarks of many-body physics. It has stimulated the development of both new experimental and theoretical techniques. Although over forty years have passed since its discovery some questions still remain unanswered, while new ones are being posed. Recently, the Kondo resonance has been observed by scanning tunneling microscope studying single magnetic atoms on a metallic surface. With the advent of the spin-polarized scanning microscope, it is now possible to probe spin resolved aspects of a Kondo system. In this talk I'll present the predicted behavior of the Kondo effect, as would be observed using a spin-polarized scanning microscope. We find the interaction of the Kondo system with a spin-polarized tunneling current splits the Kondo resonance into spin-up and spin-down components, similar to an applied magnetic field.