Electronic current in a nanometer-size rod is theoretically investigated by an eigen-channel decomposition method in nonequilibrium Green's function formalism. Physical properties, such as the local density of electrons and local current, are decomposed into contributions of eigen-channels. We observe that the evanescent modes and nonlinear conductance are enhanced in d-orbital systems, and the structure of the transmission function, local current density, and penetration depth are discussed. The two effects of the ill-contact at electrodes in d-orbital systems, evanescent modes and the nonlinearity of conductance, are regarded as originating in the peak structure of the transmission function of eigen-channels in the energy region between chemical potentials of left and right lead wires.
We describe a technique for connecting a nanometer-scale gold grain to leads by atomic-scale gold point contacts. These devices differ from previous metallic quantum dots in that the conducting channels are relatively well-transmitting. We investigate the dependence of the Coulomb blockade on contact resistance. The high-resistance devices display Coulomb blockade and the low-resistance devices display a zero-bias conductance dip, both in quantitative agreement with theory. We find that in the intermediate regime, where the sample resistance is close to $h/e^2$, the I-V curve displays a Coulom…
Solid state ionic conductors are good candidates for the next generation of nonvolatile computer memory elements. Such devices have to show reproducible resistance switching at reasonable voltage and current values even if scaled down to the nanometer sizes. Here we study the switching characteristics of nanoscale junctions created between a tungsten tip and a silver film covered by a thin ionic conductor layer. Atomic-sized junctions show spectacular current induced switching characteristics, but both the magnitude of the switching voltage and the direction of the switching vary randomly for …
We use the scattering matrix approach to derive generalized Bardeen-like formulae for the conductances between the contacts of a phase-coherent multiprobe conductor and a tunneling tip which probes its surface. These conductances are proportional to local partial densities of states, called injectivities and emissivities. The current and the current fluctuations measured at the tip are related to an effective local non-equilibrium distribution function. This distribution function contains the quantum-mechanical phase-coherence of the charge carriers in the conductor and is given as products of…
We derive Bardeen-like expressions for the transmission probabilities between two multi-probe mesoscopic conductors coupled by a weak tunneling contact. We emphasize especially the dual role of a weak coupling contact as a current source and sink and analyze the magnetic field symmetry. In the limit of a point-like tunneling contact the transmission probability becomes a product of local, partial density of states of the two mesoscopic conductors. We present expressions for the partial density of states in terms of functional derivatives of the scattering matrix with respect to the local poten…
Spin-dependent transport through an endohedral fullerene Co@C$_{60}$ dimer with gold electrodes is explored theoretically using density functional and extended Hückel theory. Density of states spin polarizations up to 95%, due to spin-splitting of Co 3d orbitals, are found by varying the gate and/or bias voltage. The current-voltage characteristics and strong (up to 100%) spin polarization of the current indicate that the device can be utilized for highly efficient spin injection into nonmagnetic conductors. This finding opens the way to the realization of electrostatically tuned spintronic na…
We investigate basic properties of the thermopower (Seebeck coefficient) of phase-coherent conductors under the influence of dephasing and inelastic processes. Transport across the system is caused by a voltage bias or a thermal gradient applied between two terminals. Inelastic scattering is modeled with the aid of an additional probe acting as an ideal potentiometer and thermometer. We find that inelastic scattering reduces the conductor's thermopower and, more unexpectedly, generates a magnetic-field asymmetry in the Seebeck coefficient. The latter effect is shown to be a higher-order effect…
In this work, we study thermal conductivity (k) of BC5, an ultra-hard diamondlike semiconductor material, using first-principles computations and analyze the effect of both isotopic disorder as well as length scale dependence. k of isotopically pure BC5 is computed to be 169 Wm- 1K-1 (along a-axis) at 300K; this high k is found to be due to the high frequencies and phonon group velocities of both acoustic and optical phonons owing to the light atomic mass of Carbon (C) and Boron (B) atoms and strong C-C and B-C bonds. We also observe a dominance of optical phonons (~ 54%) over acoustic phonons…
We investigate theoretically the interplay of current-induced forces (CIF), Joule heating, and heat transport inside a current-carrying nano-conductor. We find that the CIF, due to the electron-phonon coherence, can control the spatial heat dissipation in the conductor. This yields a significant asymmetric concentration of excess heating (hot-spot) even for a symmetric conductor. When coupled to the electrode phonons, CIF drive different phonon heat flux into the two electrodes. First-principles calculations on realistic biased nano-junctions illustrate the importance of the effect.
We construct a scattering theory of weakly nonlinear thermoelectric transport through sub-micron scale conductors. The theory incorporates the leading nonlinear contributions in temperature and voltage biases to the charge and heat currents. Because of the finite capacitances of sub-micron scale conducting circuits, fundamental conservation laws such as gauge invariance and current conservation require special care to be preserved. We do this by extending the approach of Christen and Büttiker [Europhys. Lett. 35, 523 (1996)] to coupled charge and heat transport. In this way we write relations …
We investigate departures of the Onsager relations in the nonlinear regime of electronic transport through mesoscopic systems. We show that the nonlinear current--voltage characteristic is not an even function of the magnetic field due only to the magnetic-field dependence of the screening potential within the conductor. We illustrate this result for two types of conductors: A quantum Hall bar with an antidot and a chaotic cavity connected to quantum point contacts. For the chaotic cavity we obtain through random matrix theory an asymmetry in the fluctuations of the nonlinear conductance that …
We study theoretically 2D HgTe/CdTe quantum well topological insulator (TI) illuminated by circularly polarized light with frequencies higher than the difference between the equilibrium Fermi level and the bottom of the conduction band (THz range). We show that electron-hole asymmetry results in spin-dependent electric dipole transitions between edge and bulk states, and we predict an occurrence of a circular photocurrent. If the edge state is tunnel-coupled to a conductor, then the photocurrent can be detected by measuring an electromotive force (EMF) in the conductor, which is proportional t…
We develop a scattering theory of current-induced forces exerted by the conduction electrons of a general mesoscopic conductor on slow "mechanical" degrees of freedom. Our theory describes the current-induced forces both in and out of equilibrium in terms of the scattering matrix of the phase-coherent conductor. Under general nonequilibrium conditions, the resulting mechanical Langevin dynamics is subject to both non-conservative and velocity-dependent Lorentz-like forces, in addition to (possibly negative) friction. We illustrate our results with a two-mode model inspired by hydrogen molecule…
The semiclassical equations of motion are widely used to describe carrier transport in conducting materials. Nevertheless, the substantial challenge of incorporating disorder systematically into the semiclassical model persists, leading to quantitative inaccuracies and occasionally erroneous predictions for the expectation values of physical observables. In the present work we provide a general prescription for reformulating the semiclassical equations of motion for carriers in disordered conductors by taking the quantum mechanical density matrix as the starting point. We focus on external ele…
The formation of photo-electron current in the volume of semi-conductor material is investigated in this article. A plane case when a material is uniformly illuminated by light is considered. The current-voltage characteristic of a photo resistance is obtained in analytical form.
Charge transport in nanostructures and thin films is fundamental to many phenomena and processes in science and technology, ranging from quantum effects and electronic correlations in mesoscopic physics, to integrated charge- or spin-based electronic circuits, to photoactive layers in energy research. Direct visualization of the charge flow in such structures is challenging due to their nanometer size and the itinerant nature of currents. In this work, we demonstrate non-invasive magnetic imaging of current density in two-dimensional conductor networks including metallic nanowires and carbon n…
A scattering approach to entanglement in mesoscopic conductors with independent fermionic quasiparticles is discussed. We focus on conductors in the tunneling limit, where a redefinition of the quasiparticle vacuum transforms the wavefunction from a manybody product state of noninteracting particles to a state describing entangled two-particle excitations out of the new vacuum. The approach is illustrated with two examples (i) a normal-superconducting system, where the transformation is made between Bogoliubov-de Gennes quasiparticles and Cooper pairs, and (ii) a normal system, where the trans…
The results of photoconduction study of the Peierls conductors are reviewed. The studied materials are quasi-one-dimensional conductors with the charge-density wave: K$_{0.3}$MoO$_3$, both monoclinic and orthorhombic TaS$_3$ and also a semiconducting phase of NbS$_3$ (phase I). Experimental methods, relaxation times, effects of illumination on linear and nonlinear charge transport, the electric-field effect on photoconduction and results of the spectral studies are described. We demonstrate, in particular, that a simple model of modulated energy gap slightly smoothed by fluctuations fits the a…
The local Larmor clock is used to derive a hierarchy of local densities of states. At the bottom of this hierarchy are the partial density of states for which represent the contribution to the local density of states if both the incident and outgoing scattering channel are prescribed. On the next higher level is the injectivity which represents the contribution to the local density of states if only the incident channel is prescribed regardless of the final scattering channel. The injectivity is related by reciprocity to the emissivity of a point into a quantum channel. The sum of all partial …
We introduce electron-like and hole-like distribution functions, which determine the currents and the fluctuation spectra of the currents measured at a normal-conductor--superconductor hetero-structure. These distribution functions are expressed with the help of newly defined partial densities of states for hetero-structures. Voltage measurements using a weakly coupled contact on such a structure show the absence of a contact resistance to the superconducting reservoir and illustrate how the interface to the superconductor acts as an Andreev mirror. We also discuss the current-current correlat…
