Kondo effect of impurity moments in d-wave superconductors: Quantum phase transition and spectral properties

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

  • Matthias Vojta - , Augsburg University (Author)
  • Ralf Bulla - , Augsburg University (Author)

Abstract

We discuss the dynamics of magnetic moments in d-wave superconductors. In particular, we focus on moments induced by doping nonmagnetic impurities into cuprates. The interaction of such moments with the Bogoliubov quasiparticles of the superconductors can be described by variants of the pseudogap Kondo model, characterized by a power-law density of states at the Fermi level. The numerical renormalization-group technique is employed to investigate this Kondo problem for realistic band structures and particle-hole asymmetries, both at zero and finite temperatures. In particular, we study the boundary quantum phase transition between the local-moment and asymmetric strong-coupling phases, and argue that this transition has been observed in recent nuclear magnetic resonance experiments. We determine the spectral properties of both phases and the location of the critical point as a function of Kondo coupling and doping, and discuss quantum-critical crossovers near this phase transition. In addition, changes in the local density of states around the impurity are calculated as functions of temperature, being relevant to scanning tunneling microscopy experiments.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Article number014511
Pages (from-to)145111-1451117
Number of pages1306007
JournalPhysical Review B - Condensed Matter and Materials Physics
Volume65
Issue number1
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jan 2002
Peer-reviewedYes
Externally publishedYes