Quantum properties of atomic-sized conductors

2002/08/31 by Nicolás Agraı̈t, Nicolas Agrait, Alfredo Levy Yeyati +1 · 14 citations
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Force Microscopy Techniques and Applications #Molecular Junctions and Nanostructures #Quantum and electron transport phenomena #cond-mat.mes-hall #cond-mat.mtrl-sci #cond-mat.supr-con

paper · pdf · doi:10.1016/s0370-1573(02)00633-6

published as Physics Reports, volume 377 (2003) 81-279. · Review, 120 pages, 98 figures. In view of the file size figures have been compressed. A higher-resolution version can be found at: http://lions1.leidenuniv.nl/wwwhome/ruitenbe/review/QPASC-hr-ps-v2.zip (5.6MB zip PostScript)

arxiv created 2002/12/24 · openalex publication_date 2003/03/15 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28

Abstract

Using remarkably simple experimental techniques it is possible to gently break a metallic contact and thus form conducting nanowires. During the last stages of the pulling a neck-shaped wire connects the two electrodes, the diameter of which is reduced to single atom upon further stretching. For some metals it is even possible to form a chain of individual atoms in this fashion. Although the atomic structure of contacts can be quite complicated, as soon as the weakest point is reduced to just a single atom the complexity is removed. The properties of the contact are then dominantly determined by the nature of this atom. This has allowed for quantitative comparison of theory and experiment for many properties, and atomic contacts have proven to form a rich test-bed for concepts from mesoscopic physics. Properties investigated include multiple Andreev reflection, shot noise, conductance quantization, conductance fluctuations, and dynamical Coulomb blockade. In addition, pronounced quantum effects show up in the mechanical properties of the contacts, as seen in the force and cohesion energy of the nanowires. We review this reseach, which has been performed mainly during the past decade, and we discuss the results in the context of related developments.

Citations

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Cited by

• Local Information Flow in Quantum Quench Dynamics
• Mechanical properties of Pt monatomic chains
• Ballistic resistivity in aluminum nanocontacts
• Fabrication of stable Pd nanowire assisted by hydrogen in solution
• STM tunneling through a quantum wire with a side-attached impurity
• Proton transport through one atom thick crystals
• Intrinsic Noise Properties of Atomic Point Contact Displacement Detectors
• Interaction of a CO molecule with a Pt monatomic wire: Electronic structure and ballistic conductance
• Conductance distributions of one-dimensional disordered wires at finite temperature and bias voltage
• The high-bias stability of monatomic chains
• Preselectable integer quantum conductance of electrochemically fabricated silver point contacts
• Conductance of atomic-scale Pb contacts in an electrochemical environment
• Heat transport through Josephson point contacts
• NOISE AND TRANSPORT IN MESOSCOPICS: PHYSICS BEYOND THE LANDAUER–BÜTTIKER FORMALISM