Contributor info: Dr Rok Žitko

Luka Pavešić, Marta Pita Vidal, Arno Bargerbos, Rok Žitko

SciPost Phys. 15, 070 (2023) · published 24 August 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

Spectroscopy of a Josephson junction device with an embedded quantum dot reveals the presence of a contribution to level splitting in external magnetic field that is proportional to $\cos\phi$, where $\phi$ is the gauge-invariant phase difference across the junction. To elucidate the origin of this unanticipated effect, we systematically study the Zeeman splitting of spinful subgap states in the superconducting Anderson impurity model. The magnitude of the splitting is renormalized by the exchange interaction between the local moment and the continuum of Bogoliubov quasiparticles in a variant of the Knight shift phenomenon. The leading term in the shift is linear in the hybridisation strength $\Gamma$ (quadratic in electron hopping), while the subleading term is quadratic in $\Gamma$ (quartic in electron hopping) and depends on $\phi$ due to spin-polarization-dependent corrections to the Josephson energy of the device. The amplitude of the $\phi$-dependent part is largest for experimentally relevant parameters beyond the perturbative regime where it is investigated using numerical renormalization group calculations. Such magnetic-field-tunable coupling between the quantum dot spin and the Josephson current could find wide use in superconducting spintronics.

Germán G. Blesio, Rok Žitko, Luis O. Manuel, Armando A. Aligia

SciPost Phys. 14, 042 (2023) · published 21 March 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

Local quantum phase transitions driven by Kondo correlations have been theoretically proposed in several magnetic nanosystems; however, clear experimental signatures are scant. Modeling a nickelocene molecule on a Cu(100) substrate as a two-orbital Anderson impurity with single-ion anisotropy coupled to two conduction bands, we find that recent scanning tunneling spectra reveal the existence of a topological quantum phase transition from the usual local Fermi liquid with high zero-bias conductance to a non-Landau Fermi liquid, characterized by a non-trivial quantized Luttinger integral, with a small conductance. The effects of intermediate valence, finite temperature, and structural relaxation of the molecule position allow us to explain the different observed behaviors.