1. Kondo effect and subatomic structures of single U atoms on graphene/6H-SiC(0001)
- Author
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Feng, W., Yang, P., Yuan, B. K., Hu, Z. P., Zhu, X. G., Tan, S. Y., Lai, X. C., Liu, Q., and Chen, Q. Y.
- Subjects
Condensed Matter - Strongly Correlated Electrons ,Condensed Matter - Materials Science - Abstract
The Kondo effect typically arises from the spin-flip scattering between the localized magnetic moment of the impurity and the delocalized electrons in the metallic host, which leads to a variety of intriguing phenomena. Here, by using scanning tunnelling microscopy/spectroscopy (STM/STS), we present the Kondo effect and subatomic features of single U adatom on graphene/6H-SiC(0001). A dip spectral feature can be observed around the Fermi energy, which is termed as the "fingerprint" of the Kondo resonance in STS; in addition, two subatomic features with different symmetries: a three-lobe structure and a donghnut-like structure can be observed from the dI/dV maps. The Kondo resonance is only detectable within 5~\AA~of the lateral distance from the U atom center, which is much smaller than the distances observed in Co atoms on different surfaces, indicating the more localized 5$f$ states than 3$d$ orbitals. By comparing with density functional theory calculations, we find that the two subatomic features displaying different symmetries originate from the selective hybridization between U 6$d$, 5$f$ orbitals and the $p_z$ orbitals from two inequivalent C atoms of the multilayer graphene., Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures
- Published
- 2021