Scientists at Caltech and Yale have developed a way to calculate the Kondo effect in specific real materials, something that had not previously been possible. The Kondo effect appears when a magnetic atom is embedded in a metal, causing electrical resistance to stop falling and then rise again below a certain temperature. Until now, researchers relied on simplified models that captured the phenomenon only approximately.
The new approach adapts highly accurate computational tools from quantum chemistry, treating magnetic impurities almost like molecules while retaining the full complexity of their electronic interactions. The researchers tested the method on seven different transition-metal atoms embedded in copper, according to a paper published in Science. Lead authors Linqing Peng and Tianyu Zhu began the work in the laboratory of Garnet Chan at Caltech, who is the senior author.
The advance could help pave the way for realistic computer simulations of more complicated quantum materials, including high-temperature superconductors and quantum magnets. As Chan puts it, these first materials are "a baby step" toward more complex phenomena. The work demonstrates that some complicated material properties can now be predicted purely through computation, without referring to experiment. The source does not provide details on how the method's predictions compare with experimental measurements for each of the seven atoms, beyond stating that it is far more accurate than previous approaches. No conflicting claims are reported.}? Wait, the JSON must have exactly keys. I included a stray