7 research outputs found

    Kondo effect in an integer-spin quantum dot

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    The Kondo effect is a key many-body phenomenon in condensed matter physics. It concerns the interaction between a localised spin and free electrons. Discovered in metals containing small amounts of magnetic impurities, it is now a fundamental mechanism in a wide class of correlated electron systems. Control over single, localised spins has become relevant also in fabricated structures due to the rapid developments in nano-electronics. Experiments have already demonstrated artificial realisations of isolated magnetic impurities at metallic surfaces, nanometer-scale magnets, controlled transitions between two-electron singlet and triplet states, and a tunable Kondo effect in semiconductor quantum dots. Here, we report an unexpected Kondo effect realised in a few-electron quantum dot containing singlet and triplet spin states whose energy difference can be tuned with a magnetic field. This effect occurs for an even number of electrons at the degeneracy between singlet and triplet states. The characteristic energy scale is found to be much larger than for the ordinary spin-1/2 case.Comment: 12 page

    Observation of Rydberg blockade between two atoms

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    We demonstrate experimentally that a single Rb atom excited to the 79d5/279d_{5/2} level blocks the subsequent excitation of a second atom located more than 10μm10 \mu\rm m away. The observed probability of double excitation of 30\sim 30% is consistent with a theoretical model based on calculations of the long range dipole-dipole interaction between atoms.Comment: 4 figure
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