Onset of Energy Dissipation in Ballistic Atomic Wires

Nicolás Agraït; Carlos Untiedt; Gabino Rubio-Bollinger; Sebastián Vieira

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.88.216803

Onset of Energy Dissipation in Ballistic Atomic Wires

Nicolás Agraït, Carlos Untiedt, Gabino Rubio-Bollinger, and Sebastián Vieira

Phys. Rev. Lett. 88, 216803 – Published 13 May 2002

Abstract

Electronic transport at finite voltages in free-standing gold atomic chains of up to seven atoms in length is studied at low temperatures using a scanning tunneling microscope. The conductance vs voltage curves show that transport in these single-mode ballistic atomic wires is nondissipative up to a finite voltage threshold of the order of several mV. The onset of dissipation and resistance within the wire corresponds to the excitation of the atomic vibrations by the electrons traversing the wire and is very sensitive to strain.

Received 29 October 2001

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.88.216803

Authors & Affiliations

Nicolás Agraït^*, Carlos Untiedt^†, Gabino Rubio-Bollinger, and Sebastián Vieira

Laboratorio de Bajas Temperaturas, Departamento de Física de la Materia Condensada C-III, and Instituto Universitario de Ciencia de Materiales “Nicolás Cabrera,” Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, E-28049 Madrid, Spain

^*Electronic address: nicolas.agrait@uam.es
^†Present address: Kamerlingh Onnes Laboratorium, Postbus 9504, NL-2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands.