The interaction of a magnetic (Fe) impurity with the surface of a non-magnetic (Au) semi-infinite host is investigated in terms of fully relativistic spin-polarized first principlescalculations.It is shown that the surface induces a magnetic anisotropy on the impurity which is considerably larger than in the bulk. It is also found that the anisotropy constant K(d) is an oscillating function of the distance d between the impurity and the surface with an amplitude which falls as 1/d~2 and a period which is determined by the shape of the Fermi Surface of the bulk Au host. However, the question still remains open whether the magnitude of the anisotropy energy is sufficiently large to explain the thickness dependence of the Kondo amplitude B in thin films of dilute Fe_cAu_1-c alloys.
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