Related papers: A Current Induced Transition in atomic-sized conta…
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…
Many experiments have shown that the conductance histograms of metallic atomic-sized contacts exhibit a peak structure, which is characteristic of the corresponding material. The origin of these peaks still remains as an open problem. In…
We investigate the histograms of conductance values obtained during controlled electromigration thinning of Cu thin films. We focus on the question whether the most frequently observed conductance values, apparent as peaks in conductance…
Conductance histograms are a valuable tool to study the intrinsic conduction properties of metallic atomic-sized contacts. These histograms show a peak structure, which is characteristic of the type of metal under investigation. Despite the…
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…
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…
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…
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 time-dependent non-crossing approximation is used to study the transient current in a single electron transistor attached asymmetrically to two leads following a sudden change in the energy of the dot level. We show that for asymmetric…
Ab initio calculations of phenyl dithiol connected to Au, Ag, Pd, and Pt electrodes are performed using non-equilibrium Green's functions and density functional theory. For each metal, the properties of the molecular junction are considered…
The study of time-dependent, many-body transport phenomena is increasingly within reach of ultra-cold atom experiments. We show that the introduction of spatially inhomogeneous interactions, e.g., generated by optically-controlled…
The thermopower and conductance of atomic-size metallic contacts have been simultaneously measured using a mechanically controllable break junction. For contacts approaching atomic dimensions, abrupt steps in the thermopower are observed…
Motivated by recent experiments [Science 355, 6330 (2017); Nat. Nanotechnol. 12, 430 (2017)], we present here an extensive theoretical analysis of the thermal conductance of atomic-size contacts made of three different metals, namely gold…
We present a quantitative analysis of the steady state electronic transport in a resistive switching device. The device is composed of a thin film of Ag$_{2}$S (solid electrolyte) contacted by a Pt nano-contact acting as ion-blocking…
Dynamic evolution of the connective neck in Al and Pb mechanically controllable break junctions was studied during continuous approach of electrodes at bias voltages V_b up to a few hundred mV. A high level of power dissipation (10^-4 -…
Transport through molecular contacts with a sluggish intramolecular vibrational mode strongly coupled to excess charges is studied far from equilibrium. A Born-Oppenheimer approximation in steady state reveals voltage dependent energy…
We have studied conductance ($\it{g}$) of butanedithiol-linked gold nanoparticle films across a percolation insulator-to-metal transition. As the transition proceeds, electrons become itinerant (i.e. Coulomb charging and kinetic effects are…
In this paper the influence of adsorbed hydrogen on the behavior of gold nanojunctions is investigated. It is found, that the hydrogen environment has a strong effect on the conductance of atomic-sized gold junctions, which is markedly…
Using the mechanically controlled break junction technique at low temperatures and under cryogenic vacuum conditions we have studied atomic contacts of several magnetic (Fe, Co and Ni) and non-magnetic (Pt) metals, which recently were…
The point contact of a tunnel tip approaching towards Ag(111) and Cu(111) surfaces is investigated with a low temperature scanning tunneling microscope. A sharp jump-to-contact, random in nature, is observed in the conductance. After point…