A famous quantum effect can finally be predicted in real materials

Scientists have developed a powerful new way to calculate the Kondo effect, a strange quantum phenomenon that appears when magnetic atoms are embedded in metals. Instead of relying on simplified models, the method uses the real atomic and electronic structures of materials, allowing researchers to predict their behavior with far greater accuracy. A famous quantum effect can finally be predicted in real materials.

Conducting electrons in a metal are shown interacting with the spin of an embedded magnetic atom impurity. For decades, researchers have largely depended on simplified models that capture the phenomenon only about. The new approach instead works directly from a material’s true atomic and electronic structure.

The advance could help pave the way for realistic computer simulations of more complicated quantum materials, including high-temperature superconductors. In these materials, the behavior of any one electron is strongly influenced by what nearby electrons are doing, making the system difficult to describe with conventional approximations. The researchers report their method and findings in a paper published in Science.