Probing the Rashba effect via the induced magnetization around a Kondo impurity

Abstract

When a single magnetic adatom is deposited on a surface of a metal, it affects the charge and spin texture of the electron gas surrounding it. The screening of the local moment by conduction electrons gives rise to the Kondo effect. Here we investigate the effect of the Rashba spin orbit coupling on the local magnetization density of states (LMDOS) around a Cobalt impurity on a Au(111) surface in a magnetic field. We show that the in-plane component of the LMDOS is exclusively associated with the Rashba spin orbit interaction. This observation can be experimentally exploited to confirm the presence of the Rashba effect on surfaces, such as Au(111), by performing spin-polarized STM measurements around the Kondo impurity.