98 research outputs found
Observation of a parity oscillation in the conductance of atomic wires
Using a scanning tunnel microscope or mechanically controlled break
junctions, atomic contacts of Au, Pt and Ir are pulled to form chains of atoms.
We have recorded traces of conductance during the pulling process and averaged
these for a large amount of contacts. An oscillatory evolution of conductance
is observed during the formation of the monoatomic chain suggesting a
dependence on even or odd numbers of atoms forming the chain. This behaviour is
not only present in the monovalent metal Au, as it has been previously
predicted, but is also found in the other metals which form chains suggesting
it to be a universal feature of atomic wires
Evidence for saturation of channel transmission from conductance fluctuations in atomic-size point contacts
The conductance of atomic size contacts has a small, random, voltage
dependent component analogous to conductance fluctuations observed in diffusive
wires (UCF). A new effect is observed in gold contacts, consisting of a marked
suppression of these fluctuations when the conductance of the contact is close
to integer multiples of the conductance quantum. Using a model based on the
Landauer-Buettiker formalism we interpret this effect as evidence that the
conductance tends to be built up from fully transmitted (i.e., saturated)
channels plus a single, which is partially transmitted.Comment: An error in Eq.(2) was corrected, where a square root was added to
the factor (1-cos(gamma)). This results in a revised estimate for the mean
free path of 5 nm, which is now fully consistent with the estimates from the
series resistance and the thermopowe
Measurement of the conductance of a hydrogen molecule
Recent years have shown steady progress in research towards molecular
electronics [1,2], where molecules have been investigated as switches [3-5],
diodes [6], and electronic mixers [7]. In much of the previous work a Scanning
Tunnelling Microscope was employed to address an individual molecule. As this
arrangement does not provide long-term stability, more recently
metal-molecule-metal links have been made using break junction devices [8-10].
However, it has been difficult to establish unambiguously that a single
molecule forms the contact [11]. Here, we show that a single H2 molecule can
form a stable bridge between Pt electrodes. In contrast to results for other
organic molecules, the bridge has a nearly perfect conductance of one quantum
unit, carried by a single channel. The H2-bridge provides a simple test system
and a fundamental step towards understanding transport properties of
single-molecule devices.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure
Direct link between Coulomb blockade and shot noise in a quantum coherent structure
We analyze the current-voltage characteristic of a quantum conduction channel
coupled to an electromagnetic environment of arbitrary frequency-dependent
impedance. In the weak blockade regime the correction to the ohmic behavior is
directly related to the channel current fluctuations vanishing at perfect
transmission in the same way as shot noise. This relation can be generalized to
describe the environmental Coulomb blockade in a generic mesoscopic conductor
coupled to an external impedance, as the response of the latter to the current
fluctuations in the former.Comment: 12 pages, 2 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. Let
Shot-noise spectroscopy of energy-resolved ballistic currents
We investigate the shot noise of nonequilibrium carriers injected into a
ballistic conductor and interacting via long-range Coulomb forces. Coulomb
interactions are shown to act as an energy analyzer of the profile of injected
electrons by means of the fluctuations of the potential barrier at the emitter
contact. We show that the details in the energy profile can be extracted from
shot-noise measurements in the Coulomb interaction regime, but cannot be
obtained from time-averaged quantities or shot-noise measurements in the
absence of interactions.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figure
Force, charge, and conductance of an ideal metallic nanowire
The conducting and mechanical properties of a metallic nanowire formed at the
junction between two macroscopic metallic electrodes are investigated. Both
two- and three-dimensional wires with a W(ide)-N(arrow)-W(ide) geometry are
modelled in the free-electron approximation with hard-wall boundary conditions.
Tunneling and quantum-size effects are treated exactly using the scattering
matrix formalism. Oscillations of order E_F/lambda_F in the tensile force are
found when the wire is stretched to the breaking point, which are synchronized
with quantized jumps in the conductance. The force and conductance are shown to
be essentially independent of the width of the wide sections (electrodes). The
exact results are compared with an adiabatic approximation; the later is found
to overestimate the effects of tunneling, but still gives qualitatively
reasonable results for nanowires of length L>>lambda_F, even for this abrupt
geometry. In addition to the force and conductance, the net charge of the
nanowire is calculated and the effects of screening are included within linear
response theory. Mesoscopic charge fluctuations of order e are predicted which
are strongly correlated with the mesoscopic force fluctuations. The local
density of states at the Fermi energy exhibits nontrivial behavior which is
correlated with fine structure in the force and conductance, showing the
importance of treating the whole wire as a mesoscopic system rather than
treating only the narrow part.Comment: 23 pages, 8 figure
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
Resistivity, Hall effect and Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations in CeNiSn
The resistivity and Hall effect in CeNiSn are measured at temperatures down
to 35 mK and in magnetic fields up to 20 T with the current applied along the
{\it b} axis. The resistivity at zero field exhibits quadratic temperature
dependence below 0.16 K with a huge coefficient of the term (54
cm/K). The resistivity as a function of field shows an
anomalous maximum and dip, the positions of which vary with field directions.
Shubnikov-de Haas (SdH) oscillations with a frequency {\it F} of 100 T
are observed for a wide range of field directions in the {\it ac} and {\it bc}
planes, and the quasiparticle mass is determined to be 10-20 {\it m}.
The carrier density is estimated to be electron/Ce. In a narrow
range of field directions in the {\it ac} plane, where the
magnetoresistance-dip anomaly manifests itself clearer than in other field
directions, a higher-frequency () SdH oscillation is
found at high fields above the anomaly. This observation is discussed in terms
of possible field-induced changes in the electronic structure.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev. B (15 Sept. 2002 issue
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
Origin of anomalously long interatomic distances in suspended gold chains
The discovery of long bonds in gold atom chains has represented a challenge
for physical interpretation. In fact, interatomic distances frequently attain
3.0-3.6 A values and, distances as large as 5.0 A may be seldom observed. Here,
we studied gold chains by transmission electron microscopy and performed
theoretical calculations using cluster ab initio density functional formalism.
We show that the insertion of two carbon atoms is required to account for the
longest bonds, while distances above 3 A may be due to a mixture of clean and
one C atom contaminated bonds.Comment: 4 pages, 4 Postscript figures, to be published in Physical Review
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