Kondo effect in single-molecule magnet transistors

Abstract

We present a careful and thorough microscopic derivation of the anisotropic Kondo Hamiltonian for single-molecule magnet (SMM) transistors. When the molecule is strongly coupled to metallic leads, we show that by applying a transverse magnetic field it is possible to topologically induce or quench the Kondo effect in the conductance of a SMM with either an integer or a half-integer spin $Sg1/2$. This topological Kondo effect is due to the Berry-phase interference between multiple quantum tunneling paths of the spin. We calculate the renormalized Berry-phase oscillations of the two Kondo peaks as a function of the transverse magnetic field by means of the poor man's scaling. In particular, we show that the Kondo exchange interaction between itinerant electrons in the leads and the SMM pseudospin 1/2 depends crucially on the SMM spin selection rules for the addition and subtraction of an electron and can range from antiferromagnetic to ferromagnetic. We illustrate our findings with the SMM ${\text{Ni}}_{4}$, which we propose as a possible candidate for the experimental observation of the conductance oscillations.