170 research outputs found
Conductance oscillation and quantization in monoatomic Al wires
We present first-principles calculations for the transport properties of
monoatomic Al wires sandwiched between Al(100) electrodes. The conductance of
the monoatomic Al wires oscillates with the number of the constituent atoms as
a function of the wire length, either with a period of four-atom for wires with
the typical interatomic spacing or a period of six-atom with the interatomic
spacing of the bulk fcc aluminum, indicating a dependence of the period of
conductance oscillation on the interatomic distance of the monoatomic Al wires
Dynamics of quartz tuning fork force sensors used in scanning probe microscopy
We have performed an experimental characterization of the dynamics of
oscillating quartz tuning forks which are being increasingly used in scanning
probe microscopy as force sensors. We show that tuning forks can be described
as a system of coupled oscillators. Nevertheless, this description requires the
knowledge of the elastic coupling constant between the prongs of the tuning
fork, which has not yet been measured. Therefore tuning forks have been usually
described within the single oscillator or the weakly coupled oscillators
approximation that neglects the coupling between the prongs. We propose three
different procedures to measure the elastic coupling constant: an
opto-mechanical method, a variation of the Cleveland method and a thermal noise
based method. We find that the coupling between the quartz tuning fork prongs
has a strong influence on the dynamics and the measured motion is in remarkable
agreement with a simple model of coupled harmonic oscillators. The precise
determination of the elastic coupling between the prongs of a tuning fork
allows to obtain a quantitative relation between the resonance frequency shift
and the force gradient acting at the free end of a tuning fork prong.Comment: 16 pages, 6 figures, 2 Table
Measurement of interfacial shear (friction) with an ultrahigh vacuum atomic force microscope
We have studied the variation of frictional force with externally applied load for a Pt-coated atomic force microscope tip in contact with the surface of mica cleaved in ultrahigh vacuum. At low loads, the frictional force varies with load in almost exact proportion to the area of contact as predicted by the Johnson-Kendall-Roberts (JKR) theory [K. L. Johnson, K. Kendall, and A. D. Roberts, Proc. R. Sec. London Ser. A 324, 301 (1971)] of elastic adhesive contacts. The friction-load relation for a deliberately modified tip shape was proportional to an extended JKR model that predicts the area-load relation for nonparabolic tips, The tip shape was determined experimentally with a tip imaging technique and was consistent with the predicted friction behavior. This demonstrates that the frictional force is proportional to the area of contact between the tip and sample. Using the JKR/extended JKR model, interfacial surface energies and shear strengths can be estimated
Nanosized superconducting constrictions
Nanowires of lead between macroscopic electrodes are produced by means of an
STM. Magnetic fields may destroy the superconductivity in the electrodes, while
the wire remains in the superconducting state. The properties of the resulting
microscopic Josephson junctions are investigated.Comment: 3 pages,3 eps figures include
Calibration of the length of a chain of single gold atoms
Using a scanning tunneling microscope or mechanically controllable break
junctions it has been shown that it is possible to control the formation of a
wire made of single gold atoms. In these experiments an interatomic distance
between atoms in the chain of ~3.6 Angstrom was reported which is not
consistent with recent theoretical calculations. Here, using precise
calibration procedures for both techniques, we measure length of the atomic
chains. Based on the distance between the peaks observed in the chain length
histogram we find the mean value of the inter-atomic distance before chain
rupture to be 2.6 +/- 0.2 A . This value agrees with the theoretical
calculations for the bond length. The discrepancy with the previous
experimental measurements was due to the presence of He gas, that was used to
promote the thermal contact, and which affects the value of the work function
that is commonly used to calibrate distances in scanning tunnelling microscopy
and mechanically controllable break junctions at low temperatures.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figure
Inelastic current-voltage characteristics of atomic and molecular junctions
We report first-principles calculations of the inelastic current-voltage
(I-V) characteristics of a gold point contact and a molecular junction in the
nonresonant regime. Discontinuities in the I-V curves appear in correspondence
to the normal modes of the structures. Due to the quasi-one-dimensional nature
of these systems, specific modes with large longitudinal component dominate the
inelastic I-V curves. In the case of the gold point contact, our results are in
good agreement with recent experimental data. For the molecular junction, we
find that the inelastic I-V curves are quite sensitive to the structure of the
contact between the molecule and the electrodes thus providing a powerful tool
to extract the bonding geometry in molecular wires.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
Quantum Conductance in Semimetallic Bismuth Nanocontacts
Electronic transport properties of bismuth nanocontacts are analyzed by means
of a low temperature scanning tunneling microscope. The subquantum steps
observed in the conductance versus elongation curves give evidence of atomic
rearrangements in the contact. The underlying quantum nature of the conductance
reveals itself through peaks in the conductance histograms. The shape of the
conductance curves at 77 K is well described by a simple gliding mechanism for
the contact evolution during elongation. The strikingly different behaviour at
4 K suggests a charge carrier transition from light to heavy ones as the
contact cross section becomes sufficiently small.Comment: 5 pages including 4 figures. Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.
Let
Universal features of electron-phonon interactions in atomic wires
The effect of electron-phonon interactions in the conductance through
metallic atomic wires is theoretically analyzed. The proposed model allows to
consider an atomic size region electrically and mechanically coupled to bulk
electrodes. We show that under rather general conditions the features due to
electron-phonon coupling are described by universal functions of the system
transmission coefficients. It is predicted that the reduction of the
conductance due to electron-phonon coupling which is observed close to perfect
transmission should evolve into an enhancement at low transmission. This
crossover can be understood in a transparent way as arising from the
competition between elastic and inelastic processes.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure
Carbon fibre tips for scanning probe microscopy based on quartz tuning fork force sensors
We report the fabrication and the characterization of carbon fibre tips for
their use in combined scanning tunnelling and force microscopy based on
piezoelectric quartz tuning fork force sensors. We find that the use of carbon
fibre tips results in a minimum impact on the dynamics of quartz tuning fork
force sensors yielding a high quality factor and consequently a high force
gradient sensitivity. This high force sensitivity in combination with high
electrical conductivity and oxidation resistance of carbon fibre tips make them
very convenient for combined and simultaneous scanning tunnelling microscopy
and atomic force microscopy measurements. Interestingly, these tips are quite
robust against occasionally occurring tip crashes. An electrochemical
fabrication procedure to etch the tips is presented that produces a sub-100 nm
apex radius in a reproducible way which can yield high resolution images.Comment: 14 pages, 10 figure
- …