Inducing Kondo screening of vacancy magnetic moments in graphene with gating and local curvature

Yuhang Jiang, Po-Wei Lo, Daniel May, Guohong Li, Guang-Yu Guo, Frithjof B. Anders, Takashi Taniguchi, Kenji Watanabe, Jinhai Mao () and Eva Y. Andrei ()
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Yuhang Jiang: Rutgers University
Po-Wei Lo: National Taiwan University
Daniel May: Technische Universität Dortmund
Guohong Li: Rutgers University
Guang-Yu Guo: National Taiwan University
Frithjof B. Anders: Technische Universität Dortmund
Takashi Taniguchi: National Institute for Materials Science
Kenji Watanabe: National Institute for Materials Science
Jinhai Mao: Rutgers University
Eva Y. Andrei: Rutgers University

Nature Communications, 2018, vol. 9, issue 1, 1-7

Abstract: Abstract In normal metals the magnetic moment of impurity-spins disappears below a characteristic Kondo temperature which marks the formation of a cloud of conduction-band electrons that screen the local-moment. In contrast, moments embedded in insulators remain unscreened at all temperatures. What then is the fate of magnetic-moments in intermediate, pseudogap systems, such as graphene? Theory predicts that coupling to the conduction-band electrons will drive a quantum phase transition between a local-moment phase and a Kondo-screened phase. However, attempts to experimentally confirm this prediction and its intriguing consequences, such as electrostatically tunable magnetic-moments, have been elusive. Here we report the observation of Kondo-screening and the quantum phase-transition between screened and unscreened phases of vacancy magnetic moments in graphene. Using scanning tunneling spectroscopy and numerical renormalization-group calculations we show that this transition enables to control the screening of local moments by tuning the gate voltage and the local curvature of the graphene membrane.

Date: 2018
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-04812-6

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