307 research outputs found
Localized Spins on Graphene
The problem of a magnetic impurity, atomic or molecular, absorbed on top of a
carbon atom in otherwise clean graphene is studied using the numerical
renormalization group. The spectral, thermodynamic, and scattering properties
of the impurity are described in detail. In the presence of a small magnetic
field, the low energy electronic features of graphene make possible to inject
spin polarized currents through the impurity using a scanning tunneling
microscope (STM). Furthermore, the impurity scattering becomes strongly spin
dependent and for a finite impurity concentration it leads to spin polarized
bulk currents and a large magnetoresistance. In gated graphene the impurity
spin is Kondo screened at low temperatures. However, at temperatures larger
than the Kondo temperature, the anomalous magnetotransport properties are
recovered.Comment: 4+ pages, 4 figures. Added reference
Impurities and electronic localization in graphene bilayers
We analyze the electronic properties of bilayer graphene with Bernal stacking
and a low concentration of adatoms. Assuming that the host bilayer lies on top
of a substrate, we consider the case where impurities are adsorbed only on the
upper layer. We describe non-magnetic impurities as a single orbital hybridized
with carbon's pz states. The effect of impurity doping on the local density of
states with and without a gated electric field perpendicular to the layers is
analyzed. We look for Anderson localization in the different regimes and
estimate the localization length. In the biased system, the field induced gap
is partially filled by strongly localized impurity states. Interestingly, the
structure, distribution and localization length of these states depend on the
field polarization.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figure
Quantum Transport Through a Stretched Spin--1 Molecule
We analyze the electronic transport through a model spin-1 molecule as a
function of temperature, magnetic field and bias voltage. We consider the
effect of magnetic anisotropy, which can be generated experimentally by
stretching the molecule. In the experimentally relevant regime the conductance
of the unstretched molecule reaches the unitary limit of the underscreened
spin- 1 Kondo effect at low temperatures. The magnetic anisotropy generates an
antiferromagnetic coupling between the remaining spin 1/2 and a singular
density of quasiparticles, producing a second Kondo effect and a reduced
conductance. The results explain recent measurements in spin-1 molecules
[Science 328 1370 (2010)].Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, minor changes, accepted for publication in EP
Transport through quantum dots in mesoscopic circuits
We study the transport through a quantum dot, in the Kondo Coulomb blockade
valley, embedded in a mesoscopic device with finite wires. The quantization of
states in the circuit that hosts the quantum dot gives rise to finite size
effects. These effects make the conductance sensitive to the ratio of the Kondo
screening length to the wires length and provide a way of measuring the Kondo
cloud. We present results obtained with the numerical renormalization group for
a wide range of physically accessible parameters.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure
Electronic Transport through Magnetic Molecules with Soft Vibrating Modes
The low-temperature transport properties of a molecule are studied in the
field-effect transitor geometry. The molecule has an internal mechanical mode
that modulates its electronic levels and renormalizes both the interactions and
the coupling to the electrodes. For a soft mechanical mode the spin
fluctuations in the molecule are dominated by the bare couplings while the
valence changes are determined by the dressed energies. In this case, the
transport properties present an anomalous behavior and the Kondo temperature
has a weak gate voltage dependence. These observations are in agreement with
recent experimental data.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, accepted in PRB R
Magnetic Moment Formation in Quantum Point Contacts
We study the formation of local magnetic moments in quantum point contacts.
Using a Hubbard-like model to describe point contacts formed in a two
dimensional system, we calculate the magnetic moment using the unrestricted
Hartree approximation. We analyze different type of potentials to define the
point contact, for a simple square potential we calculate a phase diagram in
the parameter space (Coulomb repulsion - gate voltage). We also present an
analytical calculation of the susceptibility to give explicit conditions for
the occurrence of a local moment, we present a simple scaling argument to
analyze how the stability of the magnetic moment depends on the point contact
dimensions.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figure
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