Kondo State for a Compact Cr Trimer on a Metallic Surface

Abstract

The ground state of a Cr trimer supported on the Au(111) surface is investigated by means of a variational approach to the Coqblin-Schrieffer Hamiltonian. The temperature of Kondo-resonance formation (T(K)) for equilateral trimers increases drastically as compared to T(K) for a single Cr adatom. The Kondo state of a Cr trimer proves to be very sensitive to geometry and a small shift of any atom from the symmetrical position leads to a rapid decrease in T(K). These results are in good agreement with recent observations of the Kondo response of a single antiferromagnetic chromium trimer [T. Jamneala, Phys. Rev. Lett. 87, 256804 (2001)]].