title: Effect of spin-orbit interaction on a magnetic impurity in the vicinity of a surface.
abstract: We propose a new mechanism for surface-induced magnetic anisotropy to explain the thickness dependence of the Kondo resistivity of thin films of dilute magnetic alloys. The surface anisotropy energy, generated by spin-orbit coupling on the magnetic impurity itself, is an oscillating function of the distance d from the surface and decays as 1/d2. Numerical estimates based on simple models suggest that this mechanism, unlike its alternatives, gives rise to an effect of the desired order of magnitude.
authors.affiliation: Department of Theoretical Physics and Center for Applied Mathematics and Computational Physics, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Budafoki út. 8, 1521 Budapest, Hungary.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Szunyogh
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Zaránd
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gallego
authors.forename: M C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Muñoz
authors.forename: B L
authors.initials: BL
authors.lastname: Györffy