Szunyogh L, Zaránd G, Gallego S, Muñoz MC, Györffy BL. Effect of spin-orbit interaction on a magnetic impurity in the vicinity of a surface.
PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS 2006;
96:067204. [PMID:
16606040 DOI:
10.1103/physrevlett.96.067204]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/18/2005] [Indexed: 05/08/2023]
Abstract
We propose a new mechanism for surface-induced magnetic anisotropy to explain the thickness dependence of the Kondo resistivity of thin films of dilute magnetic alloys. The surface anisotropy energy, generated by spin-orbit coupling on the magnetic impurity itself, is an oscillating function of the distance d from the surface and decays as 1/d2. Numerical estimates based on simple models suggest that this mechanism, unlike its alternatives, gives rise to an effect of the desired order of magnitude.
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