Related papers: Conductance of Atomic-Sized Lead Contacts in an El…
The conductance of a single-atom contact is sensitive to the coupling of this contact atom to the atoms in the leads. Notably for the transition metals this gives rise to a considerable spread in the observed conductance values. The mean…
The electric conductance of Rh atomic contacts was investigated under the electrochemical potential control. The conductance histogram of Rh atomic contacts varied with the electrochemical potential. When the electrochemical potential of…
Atomic-sized junctions of iron, created by controlled rupture, present unusually high values of conductance compared to other metals. This result is counter-intuitive since, at the nanoscale, body-centered cubic metals are expected to…
Using benzene sandwiched between two Au leads as a model system, we investigate from first principles the change in molecular conductance caused by different atomic structures around the metal-molecule contact. Our motivation is the…
We present a theoretical study of electron transport through a molecule connected to two metallic nanocontacts. The system investigated is 1,4 benzene-dithiolate (BDT) chemically bonded to two Au contacts. The surface chemistry is modeled…
Combining density functional theory calculations for molecular electronic structure with a Green function method for electron transport, we calculate from first principles the molecular conductance of benzene connected to two Au leads…
To develop next-generation electronics and high efficiency energy-harvesting devices, it is crucial to understand how charge and heat are transported at the nanoscale. Metallic atomic-size contacts are ideal systems to probe the quantum…
The electrical transport properties of atomic-scale conductors are reviewed, with an emphasis on the relations of this problem with studies on quantum size effects in metallic clusters. A brief introduction is given of the natural formalism…
We develop a detailed analysis of electron transport in normal diffusive conductors in the presence of proximity induced superconducting correlation. We calculated the linear conductance of the system and the profile of the electric field.…
We present ab initio calculations of transport properties of atomic-sized aluminum contacts in the presence of oxygen. The experimental situation is modeled by considering a single oxygen atom (O) or one of the molecules O2 and O3 bridging…
We study theoretically quantum transport through laser-irradiated metallic atomic-sized contacts. The radiation field is treated classically, assuming its effect to be the generation of an ac voltage over the contact. We derive an…
The electronic and transport properties of atomic-size contacts are analyzed theoretically using a self-consistent tight-binding model. Our results show that, for s-like metals, a sufficiently narrow contact exhibits well defined resonant…
Metallic atomic junctions pose the ultimate limit to the scaling of electrical contacts. They serve as model systems to probe electrical and thermal transport down to the atomic level as well as quantum effects occurring in one-dimensional…
We report on the fabrication, transport measurements, and density functional theory (DFT) calculations of atomic size contacts made out of gadolinium (Gd). Gd is known to have local moments mainly associated with $f$ electrons. These…
Electronic conduction at the atomic scale can be described by Landauer's formalism. In single atom point contacts of noble metals like Au and Ag, there is just one channel open between both electrodes and the conductance is very close to…
We describe a method for creating atomic-scale electric contacts. A metal source is deposited on two insulating substrates separated by a 70 nm gap. Electric conductance across the gap is monitored, while protrusions from the bulk extend…
We present a systematic study of the ballistic electron conductance through sp and 3d transition metal atoms attached to copper and palladium crystalline electrodes. We employ the 'ab initio' screened Korringa-Kohn-Rostoker Green's function…
Using scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), we investigated the evolution of electrical conductance between a Pb tip and Pb(111) surface from tunneling to atomic point contact at a site that was defined with atomic precision. We found that…
We study the conductance of an interconnect between two graphene leads formed by a single-atom carbon chain. Its dependence on the chemical potential and the number of atoms in the chain is qualitatively different from that in the case of…
We obtain the conductance of a system of electrons connected to leads, within time-dependent density-functional theory, using a direct relation between the conductance and the density response function. Corrections to the non-interacting…