Kondo effect in small metal systems

Recent experimental studies of the single impurity Kondo effect in thin met al films and narrow metal wires has revealed that the Kondo contribution to the resistivity can be greatly suppressed in two ways: (1) by reducing the film thickness or the wire diameter, and (2) by increasing the amount of s tatic disorder. In this paper we focus on the size dependence, and describe new experimental results in this area The behavior of the Kondo alloys Au( Fe). Cu(Fe), and Cu(Mn) are shown to be well accounted for by a theoretical model of surface-induced uniaxial anisotropy developed by Zawadowski and c oworkers. However, new results for Au(Mn) and Ag(Mn) appear to be at odds w ith this theory. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.