14 research outputs found
Estimating single molecule conductance from spontaneous evolution of a molecular contact
We present an original method to estimate the conductivity of a single
molecule anchored to nanometric-sized metallic electrodes, using a Mechanically
Controlled Break Junction (MCBJ) operated at room temperature in liquid. We
record the conductance through the metal / molecules / metal nanocontact while
keeping the metallic electrodes at a fixed distance. Taking advantage of
thermal diffusion and electromigration, we let the contact naturally explore
the more stable configurations around a chosen conductance value. The
conductance of a single molecule is estimated from a statistical analysis of
raw conductance and conductance standard deviation data for molecular contacts
containing up to 14 molecules. The single molecule conductance values are
interpreted as time-averaged conductance of an ensemble of conformers at
thermal equilibrium.Comment: 25 pages, 6 figure
Infrared light emission from atomic point contacts
Gold atomic point contacts are prototype systems to evidence ballistic
electron transport. The typical dimension of the nanojunction being smaller
than the electron-phonon interaction length, even at room temperature,
electrons transfer their excess energy to the lattice only far from the
contact. At the contact however, favored by huge current densities,
electron-electron interactions result in a nano hot electron gas acting as a
source of photons. Using a home built Mechanically Controlled Break Junction,
it is reported here, for the first time, that this hot electron gas also
radiates in the infrared range (0.2eV to 1.2eV). Moreover, in agreement with
the pioneering work of Tomchuk, we show that this radiation is compatible with
a blackbody like spectrum emitted from an electron gas at temperatures of
several thousands of Kelvin given by where ,
and are respectively a fitting parameter, the current flowing and the
applied bias.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figure
Energy dissipation effects on imaging of soft materials by dynamic atomic force microscopy: A DNA-chip study
International audienc
AN AFM INVESTIGATION OF SURFACE ENERGY OF PENTACENE FILMS ON PARYLENE-C AND BENZOCYCLOBUTENE
International audienc
SELF-ASSEMBLY ARCHITECTURES OF NEW DNA-BASED STRUCTURES IN AIR AND IN LIQUIDS ANALYZED BY ATOMIC FORCE MICROSCOPY
International audienc