Kondo effect

Kondo effect [′kän·dō i‚fekt]

(metallurgy)

The large anomalous increase in the resistance of certain dilute alloys of magnetic materials in nonmagnetic hosts as the temperature is lowered.

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Kondo effect

An unusual, temperature-dependent effect displayed in the thermal, electrical, and magnetic properties of nonmagnetic metals containing very small quantities of magnetic impurities. A striking example is the anomalous, logarithmic increase in the electrical resistivity with decreasing temperature. Other properties, such as heat capacity, magnetic susceptibility, and thermoelectric power, also display anomalous behavior because of the Kondo effect. For these properties, the temperature dependence of a typical dilute magnetic metal (Kondo alloy) differs greatly from the behavior expected of an ordinary metal containing no magnetic impurities.

The Kondo effect has been observed in a wide variety of dilute magnetic alloys. Usually these alloys are made from a nonmagnetic host such as copper, silver, gold, magnesium, or zinc and a small amount of a magnetic metal impurity such as chromium, manganese, iron, cobalt, nickel, vanadium, or titanium. Typical concentrations range from about one to a few hundred magnetic atoms per million host atoms. At higher concentrations, the dilute magnetic alloys may display spin-glass behavior. See Spin glass

The Kondo effect is used in thermometry applications, especially thermocouple thermometers at very low temperatures (that is, millikelvin temperatures). In other applications where the properties of pure metals are studied, the Kondo effect serves as a useful indicator of the metal's magnetic-impurity level.

The problem of understanding the Kondo effect is considered important since it is recognized to be a simpler version of the more complex problem of understanding ferromagnetism in magnetic materials, which is one of the great challenges in physics. Basically the Kondo effect is an example of the most simple possible magnetic system—a single magnetic atom in a nonmagnetic environment. (The alloys used are so dilute that the interaction between different magnetic impurities can be safely ignored.) Although this involves a simple physical model, the problem has required some of the most sophisticated mathematical techniques known to advance its understanding.

An important step in this direction was the development of a partial mathematical solution of the Kondo problem using renormalization field theory techniques. Information gained in this step helped with the final development of a mathematically exact solution of the Kondo problem. The exact solution permits a systematic calculation of all properties (resistivity, thermal conductivity, thermopower, specific heat, magnetic susceptibility, neutron scattering behavior, and so forth) and provides a physical understanding of these properties. The theoretical work on the Kondo problem has been connected with new understanding in a variety of other scientific disciplines such as condensed-matter physics, surface physics, critical phenomena, elementary particle physics, magnetism, molecular physics, and chemistry, where parallels and analogs to the Kondo problem can be identified and utilized. See Critical phenomena, Ferromagnetism, Renormalization