Fourier transform scanning tunneling spectroscopy (FT-STS) measures the scattering of conduction electrons from impurities and defects, giving information about the electronic structure of both the host material and adsorbed impurities. We interpret such FT-STS measurements in terms of the quasiparticle interference (QPI), here investigating in detail the QPI due to single magnetic impurities adsorbed on a range of representative nonmagnetic host surfaces, and contrasting with the case of a simple scalar impurity or point defect. We demonstrate how the electronic correlations present for magnetic impurities markedly affect the QPI, showing, e.g., a large intensity enhancement due to the Kondo effect, and universality at low temperatures/scanning energies. The commonly used joint density of states interpretation of FT-STS measurements is also considered, and shown to be insufficient in many cases, including that of magnetic impurities.

• Received 16 March 2015

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.92.035126