661 research outputs found
Free-electron Model for Mesoscopic Force Fluctuations in Nanowires
When two metal electrodes are separated, a nanometer sized wire (nanowire) is
formed just before the contact breaks. The electrical conduction measured
during this retraction process shows signs of quantized conductance in units of
G_0=2e^2/h. Recent experiments show that the force acting on the wire during
separation fluctuates, which has been interpreted as being due to atomic
rearrangements. In this report we use a simple free electron model, for two
simple geometries, and show that the electronic contribution to the force
fluctuations is comparable to the experimentally found values, about 2 nN.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, reference correcte
Quantum transport and momentum conserving dephasing
We study numerically the influence of momentum-conserving dephasing on the
transport in a disordered chain of scatterers. Loss of phase memory is caused
by coupling the transport channels to dephasing reservoirs. In contrast to
previously used models, the dephasing reservoirs are linked to the transport
channels between the scatterers, and momentum conserving dephasing can be
investigated. Our setup provides a model for nanosystems exhibiting conductance
quantization at higher temperatures in spite of the presence of phononic
interaction. We are able to confirm numerically some theoretical predictions.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figure
Insights into the room temperature magnetism of ZnO/Co3O4 mixtures
The origin of room temperature (RT) ferromagneticlike behavior in ZnO-based
diluted magnetic semiconductors is still an unclear topic. The present work
concentrates on the appearance of RT magnetic moments in just mixed ZnO/Co3O4
mixtures without thermal treatment. In this study, it is shown that the
magnetism seems to be related to surface reduction of the Co3O4 nanoparticles,
in which, an antiferromagnetic Co3O4 nanoparticle (core) is surrounded by a
CoO-like shell. This singular superficial magnetism has also been found in
other mixtures with semiconductors such as TiO2 and insulators such as Al2O3
From favorable atomic configurations to supershell structures: a new interpretation of conductance histograms
Title: From favorable atomic configurations to supershell structures: a new
interpretation of conductance histograms Authors: A. Hasmy (IVIC), E. Medina
(IVIC), P.A. Serena (CSIC,IVIC) Comments: 7 pages, 3 figures,
cond-mat.anwar.10825 Subj-class: Soft Condensed MatterComment: 7 pages, 3 figuresSubject: fput HMS.tex HMS-FIG1.ps HMS-FIG2.ps
HMS-FIG3.p
Statistical analysis of Ni nanowires breaking processes: a numerical simulation study
A statistical analysis of the breaking behavior of Ni nanowires is presented.
Using molecular dynamic simulations, we have determined the time evolution of
both the nanowire atomic structure and its minimum cross section (Sm(t)).
Accumulating thousands of independent breaking events, Sm histograms are built
and used to study the influence of the temperature, the crystalline stretching
direction and the initial nanowire size. The proportion of monomers, dimers and
more complex structures at the latest stages of the breaking process are
calculated, finding important differences among results obtained for different
nanowire orientations and sizes. Three main cases have been observed. (A) [111]
stretching direction and large nanowire sizes: the wire evolves from more
complex structures to monomers and dimers prior its rupture; well ordered
structures is presented during the breaking process. (B) Large nanowires
stretched along the [100] and [110] directions: the system mainly breaks from
complex structures (low probability of finding monomers and dimers), having
disordered regions during their breakage; at room temperature, a huge histogram
peak around Sm=5 appears, showing the presence of long staggered pentagonal Ni
wires with ...-5-1-5-... structure. (C) Initial wire size is small: strong size
effects independently on the temperature and stretching direction. Finally, the
local structure around monomers and dimmers do not depend on the stretching
direction. These configurations differ from those usually chosen in static
studies of conductance.Comment: 18 pages, 13 figure
Ballistic resistivity in aluminum nanocontacts
One of the major industrial challenges is to profit from some fascinating
physical features present at the nanoscale. The production of dissipationless
nanoswitches (or nanocontacts) is one of such attractive applications.
Nevertheless, the lack of knowledge of the real efficiency of electronic
ballistic/non dissipative transport limits future innovations. For multi-valent
metallic nanosystems -where several transport channels per atom are involved-
the only experimental technique available for statistical transport
characterization is the conductance histogram. Unfortunately its interpretation
is difficult because transport and mechanical properties are intrinsically
interlaced. We perform a representative series of semiclassical molecular
dynamics simulations of aluminum nanocontact breakages, coupled to full quantum
conductance calculations, and put in evidence a linear relationship between the
conductance and the contact minimum cross-section for the geometrically favored
aluminum nanocontact configurations. Valid in a broad range of conductance
values, such relation allows the definition of a transport parameter for
nanomaterials, that represents the novel concept of ballistic resistivity
Multi-shell gold nanowires under compression
Deformation properties of multi-wall gold nanowires under compressive loading
are studied. Nanowires are simulated using a realistic many-body potential.
Simulations start from cylindrical fcc(111) structures at T=0 K. After
annealing cycles axial compression is applied on multi-shell nanowires for a
number of radii and lengths at T=300 K. Several types of deformation are found,
such as large buckling distortions and progressive crushing. Compressed
nanowires are found to recover their initial lengths and radii even after
severe structural deformations. However, in contrast to carbon nanotubes
irreversible local atomic rearrangements occur even under small compressions.Comment: 1 gif figure, 5 ps 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
Connective neck evolution and conductance steps in hot point contacts
Dynamic evolution of the connective neck in Al and Pb mechanically
controllable break junctions was studied during continuous approach of
electrodes at bias voltages V_b up to a few hundred mV. A high level of power
dissipation (10^-4 - 10^-3 W) and high current density (j > 10^10 A/cm^2) in
the constriction lead to overheating of the contact area, electromigration and
current-enhanced diffusion of atoms out of the "hot spot". At a low electrode
approach rate (10 - 50 pm/s) the transverse dimension of the neck and the
conductance of the junction depend on V_b and remain nearly constant over the
approach distance of 10 - 30 nm. For V_b > 300 mV the connective neck consists
of a few atoms only and the quantum nature of conductance manifests itself in
abrupt steps and reversible jumps between two or more levels. These features
are related to an ever changing number of individual conductance channels due
to the continuous rearrangement in atomic configuration of the neck, the
recurring motion of atoms between metastable states, the formation and breaking
of isolated one-atom contacts and the switching between energetically
preferable neck geometries.Comment: 21 pages 10 figure
Sources of experimental errors in the observation of nanoscale magnetism
It has been recently reported that some non-magnetic materials in bulk state,
exhibit magnetic behavior at the nanscale due to surface and size effects. The
experimental observation of these effects is based on the measurement of very
small magnetic signals. Thus, some spurious effects that are not critical for
bulk materials with large magnetic signals may become important when measuring
small signals (typically below 0.0001 emu). Here, we summarize some sources of
these small magnetic signals that should be considered when studying this new
nanomagnetismComment: 16 pages, 10 figure
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