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How Kondo-holes create intense nanoscale heavy-fermion hybridization disorder

Cornell Affiliated Author(s)

Author

M.H. Hamidian
A.R. Schmidt
I.A. Firmo
M.P. Allan
P. Bradley
J.D. Garrett
T.J. Williams
G.M. Luke
Y. Dubi
A.V. Balatsky
J.C. Davis

Abstract

Replacing a magnetic atom by a spinless atom in a heavy-fermion compound generates a quantum state often referred to as a "Kondo-hole". No experimental imaging has been achieved of the atomic- scale electronic structure of a Kondo-hole, or of their destructive impact [Lawrence JM, et al. (1996) Phys Rev B 53:12559-12562] [Bauer ED, et al. (2011) Proc Natl Acad Sci. 108:6857-6861] on the hybridization process between conduction and localized electrons which generates the heavy-fermion state. Here we report visualization of the electronic structure at Kondo-holes created by substituting spinless thorium atoms for magnetic uranium atoms in the heavy-fermion system URu 2Si 2. At each thorium atom, an electronic bound state is observed. Moreover, surrounding each thorium atom we find the unusual modulations of hybridization strength recently predicted to occur at Kondo-holes [Figgins J, Morr DK (2011) Phys Rev Lett 107:066401]. Then, by introducing the "hybridization gapmap" technique to heavy-fermion studies, we discover intense nanoscale heterogeneity of hybridization due to a combination of the randomness of Kondo-hole sites and the long-range nature of the hybridization oscillations. These observations provide direct insight into both the microscopic processes of heavyfermion forming hybridization and the macroscopic effects of Kondo-hole doping.

Date Published

Journal

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

Volume

108

Issue

45

Number of Pages

18233-18237,

URL

https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-81055130177&doi=10.1073%2fpnas.1115027108&partnerID=40&md5=62d969522a3a2173a40d4b3feb3730ed

DOI

10.1073/pnas.1115027108

Group (Lab)

J.C. Seamus Davis Group

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