Sensing surface lattice strain with Kondo resonance of single Co adatom

Abstract

Detection of lattice strain is crucial for various studies in a nanometer scale because it largely modifies the local electronic states and thus various physical and chemical properties. Here, we demonstrate that the Kondo effect in a single magnetic atom on a metal surface can be a quantum sensor for the local lattice strain. Using low-temperature scanning tunneling spectroscopy, we measured the Kondo resonance in a Co adatom on partially N-adsorbed Cu(001) surfaces, which consist of nanoislands of the Cu2N monolayer and the clean Cu(001) surface compressed by the surrounding Cu2N nanoislands. The observed Kondo temperature at the compressed clean surface depends on the area size of the surface, i.e., the strength of the local lattice strain. This behavior is attributed to the change in the distance between the Co adatom and Cu surface due to the surface lattice strain, which is supported by our density functional calculations. These results provide a way to detect the local strain on the sub-angstrom scale by using the sensitivity of quantum many-body effects.