Spatial and temperature dependence of the spectroscopic profile of a magnetic atom adsorbed on a metal surface—Co/Cu(111)

Yuki Shimada, Hideaki Kasai, Hiroshi Nakanishi, Wilson Agerico Diño, Ayao Okiji, Yukio Hasegawa

doi:10.1063/1.1572543

<jats:p>As a representative Kondo system, consisting of a magnetic atom adsorbed on a metal surface, we consider a Co adatom on a Cu(111) surface. We introduce general expressions for the tunneling current and the differential conductance dI/dV, and discuss the corresponding spatial and temperature dependencies of the dI/dV line shapes that can be observed when the system is probed with a scanning tunneling microscope (STM). Starting with the STM tip sufficiently far from the Co adatom, the corresponding dI/dV line shape initially has an asymmetric structure about the Fermi level, which gradually becomes symmetric with decreasing STM tip–Co adatom distance, due to the competition between first-order (direct electron tunneling from the STM tip to the metal surface) and second-order (via the magnetic adsorbate) tunneling processes. The corresponding line shape also shows a strong temperature dependence, increasing in width with increasing temperature. As an aid to studying and observing these temperature dependencies experimentally, we suggest the utility of considering the temperature dependence of the derivative of dI/dV with respect to the bias voltage V, i.e., the d2I/dV2 line shape.</jats:p>

Spatial and temperature dependence of the spectroscopic profile of a magnetic atom adsorbed on a metal surface—Co/Cu(111)

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