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Updated: May 31, 2026

All-electronic Nanosecond-resolved Scanning Tunneling Microscopy: Facilitating the Investigation of Single Dopant Charge Dynamics
Published on: January 19, 2018
The signature of subsurface Kondo impurities in the local tunnel current
Ye S Avotina1, Yu A Kolesnichenko, J M van Ruitenbeek
1B I Verkin Institute for Low Temperature Physics and Engineering, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, 47, Lenin Avenue, 61103, Kharkov, Ukraine. Kamerlingh Onnes Laboratorium, Universiteit Leiden, Postbus 9504, 2300 Leiden, The Netherlands.
Abstract:
The conductance of a tunnel point contact in a scanning tunneling microscope-like geometry having a single defect placed below the surface is investigated theoretically. The effect of multiple electron scattering by the defect after reflections by the metal surface is taken into account. In the approximation of s-wave scattering the dependence of the conductance on the applied voltage and the position of the defect is obtained. The results are illustrated for a model s-wave phase shift describing Kondo resonance scattering. We demonstrate that multiple electron scattering by the magnetic impurity plays a decisive role in the point contact conductance at voltages near the Kondo resonance. We find that the sign and shape of the Kondo anomaly depends on the position of the defect.
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