11 research outputs found
Room Temperature Kondo effect in atom-surface scattering: dynamical 1/N approach
The Kondo effect may be observable in some atom-surface scattering
experiments, in particular, those involving alkaline-earth atoms. By combining
Keldysh techniques with the NCA approximation to solve the time-dependent
Newns-Anderson Hamiltonian in the infinite-U limit, Shao, Nordlander and
Langreth found an anomalously strong surface-temperature dependence of the
outgoing charge state fractions. Here we employ the dynamical 1/N expansion
with finite Coulomb interaction U to provide a more realistic description of
the scattering process. We test the accuracy of the 1/N expansion in the
spinless N = 1 case against the exact independent-particle solution. We then
compare results obtained in the infinite-U limit with the NCA approximation and
recover qualitative features found previously. Finally, we analyze the
realistic situation of Ca atoms with U = 5.8 eV scattered off Cu(001) surfaces.
Although the presence of the doubly-ionized Ca species can change the absolute
scattered positive Ca yields, the temperature dependence is qualitatively the
same as that found in the infinite-U limit. One of the main difficulties that
experimentalists face in attempting to detect this effect is that the atomic
velocity must be kept small enough to reduce possible kinematic smearing of the
metal's Fermi surface.Comment: 15 pages, 10 Postscript figures; references and typos correcte