Microscopic origin of the conducting channels in metallic atomic-size contacts
Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
2009-10-30 v1
Abstract
We present a theoretical approach which allows to determine the number and orbital character of the conducting channels in metallic atomic contacts. We show how the conducting channels arise from the atomic orbitals having a significant contribution to the bands around the Fermi level. Our theory predicts that the number of conducting channels with non negligible transmission is 3 for Al and 5 for Nb one-atom contacts, in agreement with recent experiments. These results are shown to be robust with respect to disorder. The experimental values of the channels transmissions lie within the calculated distributions.
Cite
@article{arxiv.cond-mat/9711263,
title = {Microscopic origin of the conducting channels in metallic atomic-size contacts},
author = {J. C. Cuevas and A. Levy Yeyati and A. Martin-Rodero},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/9711263},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
11 pages, 4 ps-figures. Submitted to Phys. Rev. Lett