Related papers: Metallic bonds become molecular-like in atomic-siz…
Conductance measurements of a molecular wire, contacted between an epitaxial molecule-metal bond and the tip of a scanning tunneling microscope, are reported. Controlled retraction of the tip gradually de-hybridizes the molecule from the…
Understanding and mastering the mechanical properties of metallic nanoparticles is crucial for their use in a wide range of applications. In this context, we use atomic-scale (Molecular Dynamics) and continuous (Finite Elements)…
Single particle states in a chain with quasiperiodic potential show a metal-insulator transition upon the change of the potential strength. We consider two particles with local interaction in the single particle insulating regime. The two…
Machine Learning (ML) techniques are revolutionizing the way to perform efficient materials modeling. Nevertheless, not all the ML approaches allow for the understanding of microscopic mechanisms at play in different phenomena. To address…
Bulk tellurium (Te) is composed of one-dimensional (1D) helical chains which have been considered to be coupled by van der Waals (vdW) interactions. However, based on first-principles density-functional theory calculations, we here propose…
The spatial distribution of the internal pressure of an electron fluid, which spontaneously arises at the formation of a molecule or a crystal, is linked to the main features of chemical bonding in molecular crystals. The local pressure is…
In the field of molecular electronics, particularly in quantum transport studies, the orientation of molecules plays a crucial role. This orientation, with respect to the electrodes, can be defined through the cavity of ring-shaped…
Quantum dots are small conductive regions in a semiconductor, containing a variable number of electrons (N=1 to 1000) that occupy well defined discrete quantum states. They are often referred to as artificial atoms with the unique property…
In systems above one dimension a continuously degenerate minimum of the single particle dispersion is realized due to one or a combination of system-parameters such as lattice structure, isotropic spin-orbit coupling, and interactions. A…
Topological semimetals have emerged as an important class of quantum materials with novel electronic responses and unconventional transport phenomena. Among them, nodal-line semimetals are distinguished by band crossings that extend along…
Atom probe tomography is frequently employed to characterize the elemental distribution in solids with atomic resolution. Here we review and discuss the potential of this technique to locally probe chemical bonds. Two processes characterize…
Magnetic fusion devices operate at regimes characterized by extremely high temperatures and low densities, for which the charged particles motion is well described by classical mechanics. This is not true, however, for solid-state metallic…
We provide evidence that as a general rule Anderson localization effects become weaker as the degree of differentiability of the disordered potential increases. In one dimension a band of metallic states exists provided that the disordered…
We reveal the role of aurophilic interactions in the formation and conductance of gold cyanide molecular wires of variable length-to-width ratios assembled at the tip of an STM break junction in ambient conditions. Specifically, we identify…
Although metallic elements favor three-dimensional (3D) geometries due to their isotropic, metallic bonding, experiments have reported metals also with two-dimensional (2D) allotropes, the so-called metallenes. And while bulk metals'…
Recently it has been observed that the conductance fluctuations of atomic size gold contacts are suppressed when the conductance is equal to an integer multiple of the conductance quantum. The fact that these contacts tend to consist…
A unified treatment of the cohesive and conducting properties of metallic nanostructures in terms of the electronic scattering matrix is developed. A simple picture of metallic nanocohesion in which conductance channels act as delocalized…
The conductance of a disordered finite-size electron system is calculated by reducing the initial dynamic problem of arbitrary dimensionality to strictly one-dimensional problems for one-particle mode propagators. The metallic ground state…
Electron transport through amorphous monatomic metallic structures generated earlier by molecular dynamics simulations is studied numerically. The interference of electronic trajectories backscattered by the structural disorder probes the…
Point defects play a crucial role in crystalline materials as they do not only impact the thermodynamic properties but are also central to kinetic processes. While they are necessary in thermodynamic equilibrium spontaneous defect formation…