English

Nonadiabatic vibronic effects in single-molecule junctions: A theoretical study using the hierarchical equations of motion approach

Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics 2022-06-10 v2

Abstract

The interaction between electronic and vibrational degrees of freedom is an important mechanism in nonequilibrium charge transport through molecular nanojunctions. While adiabatic polaron-type coupling has been studied in great detail, new transport phenomena arise for nonadiabatic coupling scenarios corresponding to a breakdown of the Born-Oppenheimer approximation. Employing the numerically exact hierarchical equations of motion approach, we analyze the effect of nonadiabatic electronic-vibrational coupling on electron transport in molecular junctions considering a series of models with increasing complexity. The results reveal a significant influence of nonadiabatic coupling on the transport characteristics and a variety of interesting effects, including negative differential conductance. The underlying mechanisms are analyzed in detail.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2203.04144,
  title  = {Nonadiabatic vibronic effects in single-molecule junctions: A theoretical study using the hierarchical equations of motion approach},
  author = {Christoph Kaspar and André Erpenbeck and Jakob Bätge and Christian Schinabeck and Michael Thoss},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2203.04144},
  year   = {2022}
}

Comments

https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.105.195435