Electron cotunneling into a Kondo lattice.

Area of Science:

• Condensed Matter Physics
• Quantum Mechanics
• Materials Science

Background:

• Recent experimental interest in tunneling into heavy-electron materials.
• Kondo lattice systems exhibit complex electronic properties due to interactions between conduction electrons and localized magnetic moments.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a theoretical framework for electron tunneling into a Kondo lattice.
• To investigate the role of cotunneling and disorder on tunneling conductance.

Main Methods:

• Utilizing large-N mean field theory to compute tunneling current.
• Analyzing the effects of hybridization gap and disorder on conductance.

Main Results:

• Electron tunneling involves simultaneous spin flips of localized moments via cotunneling.
• In clean systems, differential tunneling conductance shows two peaks split by the hybridization gap.
• Disorder leads to a smeared gap and a Fano line shape in the conductance.

Conclusions:

• The study provides a theoretical explanation for electron tunneling phenomena in Kondo lattices.
• The findings highlight the significant impact of disorder on the electronic transport properties of these materials.