Photoinduced Kondo effect in CeZn₃P₃

The Kondo effect, which originates from the screening of a localized magnetic moment by a spin-spin interaction, is widely observed in non-artificial magnetic materials, artificial quantum dots, and carbon nanotubes. In devices based on quantum dots or carbon nanotubes that target quantum information applications, the Kondo effect can be tuned by a gate voltage, a magnetic field, or light. However, the manipulation of the Kondo effect in non-artificial materials has not been thoroughly studied; in particular, the artificial creation of the Kondo effect remains unexplored. Per this subject study, however, a new route for the optical creation of the Kondo effect in the non-artificial material $p$-type semiconductor CeZn$_{3}$P$_{3}$ is presented. The Kondo effect emerges under visible-light illumination of the material by a continuous-wave laser diode and is ultimately revealed by photoinduced electrical resistivity, which clearly exhibits a logarithmic temperature dependency. By contrast, a La-based compound (LaZn$_{3}$P$_{3}$) displays only normal metallic behavior under similar illumination. The photoinduced Kondo effect, which occurs at higher temperatures when compared with the Kondo effect in artificial systems, provides a potential new range of operation for not only quantum information/computation devices but also for operation of magneto-optic devices thereby expanding the range of device applications based on the Kondo effect.