1998/12/31 by B. Ludoph, J. M. van Ruitenbeek · 121 citations
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Atomic physics #Condensed matter physics #Conductance #Electrical engineering #Electrical resistivity and conductivity #Electron #Force Microscopy Techniques and Applications #Interference (communication) #Materials science #Metal #Molecular Junctions and Nanostructures #Physics #Quantum #Quantum and electron transport phenomena #Quantum interference #Quantum mechanics #Seebeck coefficient #Superconductivity #cond-mat.mes-hall
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevb.59.12290
published in Physical review. B, Condensed matter 59(19), 12290-12293 (American Physical Society) · An error in Eq.(3) was corrected: the factor (1-cos(gamma)) should be taken under a square root. The estimate for the mean free path is now 5 nm, which is consistent with the value obtained from the series resistance of the contacts
openalex publication_date 1999/05/15 · arxiv created 1999/07/23 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
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 which coincide with jumps in the conductance. The measured thermopower for a large number of atomic-size contacts is randomly distributed around the value for large contacts and can be either positive or negative in sign. However, it is suppressed at the quantum value of the conductance G0=2e2/h. We derive an expression that describes these results in terms of quantum interference of electrons backscattered in the banks.