Current-induced nonequilibrium vibrations in single-molecule devices

2005/04/30 by Jens Koch, Matthias Semmelhack, Felix von Oppen +1 · 9 citations
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Force Microscopy Techniques and Applications #Molecular Junctions and Nanostructures #Quantum and electron transport phenomena #cond-mat.mes-hall

paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevb.73.155306

published as Phys. Rev. B 73, 155306 (2006) · 7 pages, 4 figures; revised and extended version published in Phys. Rev. B

openalex publication_date 2006/04/07 · arxiv created 2006/04/16 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28

Abstract

Finite-bias electron transport through single molecules generally induces nonequilibrium molecular vibrations (phonons). By a mapping to a Fokker-Planck equation, we obtain analytical scaling forms for the nonequilibrium phonon distribution in the limit of weak electron-phonon coupling \ensuremathλ within a minimal model. Remarkably, the width of the phonon distribution diverges as \ensuremath∼\ensuremathλ^\ensuremath-\ensuremathα when the coupling decreases, with voltage-dependent, noninteger exponents \ensuremathα. This implies a breakdown of perturbation theory in the electron-phonon coupling for fully developed nonequilibrium. We also discuss possible experimental implications of this result, such as current-induced dissociation of molecules.

Citations

• Effects of charge-dependent vibrational frequencies and anharmonicities in transport through molecules
• Diatomic Molecules According to the Wave Mechanics. II. Vibrational Levels
• Inelastic Electron Tunneling via Molecular Vibrations in Single-Molecule Transistors
• Shot Noise of a Quantum Shuttle
• Franck-Condon Blockade and Giant Fano Factors in Transport through Single Molecules

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