Observation of the Kondo Effect in a Spin-3/2 Hole Quantum Dot

Abstract

We report the observation of Kondo physics in a spin- 3/2 hole quantum dot. The dot is formed close to pinch-off in a hole quantum wire defined in an undoped AlGaAs/GaAs heterostructure. We clearly observe two distinctive hallmarks of quantum dot Kondo physics. First, the Zeeman spin-splitting of the zero-bias peak in the differential conductance is independent of gate voltage. Second, this splitting is twice as large as the splitting for the lowest one-dimensional subband. We show that the Zeeman splitting of the zero-bias peak is highly-anisotropic, and attribute this to the strong spin-orbit interaction for holes in GaAs.