Quantum impurities develop fractional local moments in spin-orbit coupled systems

Agarwala, Adhip and Shenoy, Vijay B (2016) Quantum impurities develop fractional local moments in spin-orbit coupled systems. In: PHYSICAL REVIEW B, 93 (24).

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Abstract

Systems with spin-orbit coupling have the potential to realize exotic quantum states which are interesting both from fundamental and technological perspectives. We investigate the physics that arises when a correlated spin-1/2 quantum impurity hybridizes with a spin-orbit coupled Fermi system. The intriguing aspect uncovered is that, in contrast to unit local moments in conventional systems, the impurity here develops a fractional local moment of 2/3. The concomitant Kondo effect has a high Kondo temperature (T-K). Our theory explains these features including the origins of the fractional local moment and provides a recipe to use spin-orbit coupling (lambda) to enhance the Kondo temperature (T-K similar to lambda(4/3)). Even as our finding of such rich phenomena in a simple looking many-body system is of interest in itself, we also point out opportunities for systems with tunable spin-orbit coupling (such as cold atoms) to explore this physics.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Publication:	PHYSICAL REVIEW B
Publisher:	AMER PHYSICAL SOC
Additional Information:	Copy right for this article belongs to the AMER PHYSICAL SOC, ONE PHYSICS ELLIPSE, COLLEGE PK, MD 20740-3844 USA
Department/Centre:	Division of Physical & Mathematical Sciences > Physics
Date Deposited:	17 Aug 2016 04:28
Last Modified:	17 Aug 2016 04:28
URI:	http://eprints.iisc.ac.in/id/eprint/54264

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