Gate-controlled Kondo screening in graphene: Quantum criticality and electron-hole asymmetry

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Published 19 May 2010 Europhysics Letters Association
, , Citation M. Vojta et al 2010 EPL 90 27006 DOI 10.1209/0295-5075/90/27006

0295-5075/90/2/27006

Abstract

Magnetic impurities in neutral graphene provide a realization of the pseudogap Kondo model, which displays a quantum phase transition between phases with screened and unscreened impurity moment. Here, we present a detailed study of the pseudogap Kondo model with finite chemical potential μ. While carrier doping restores conventional Kondo screening at lowest energies, properties of the quantum critical fixed point turn out to influence the behavior over a large parameter range. Most importantly, the Kondo temperature TK shows an extreme asymmetry between electron and hole doping. At criticality, depending on the sign of μ, TK follows either the scaling prediction TK∝|μ| with a universal prefactor, or TK∝|μ|x with x≈2.6. This asymmetry between electron and hole doping extends well outside the quantum critical regime and also implies a qualitative difference in the shape of the tunneling spectra for both signs of μ.

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