Search results for "Tunnelling"

On-surface Synthesis of a Chiral Graphene Nanoribbon with Mixed Edge Structure.

2020

Abstract Chiral graphene nanoribbons represent an important class of graphene nanomaterials with varying combinations of armchair and zigzag edges conferring them unique structure‐dependent electronic properties. Here, we describe the on‐surface synthesis of an unprecedented cove‐edge chiral GNR with a benzo‐fused backbone on a Au(111) surface using 2,6‐dibromo‐1,5‐diphenylnaphthalene as precursor. The initial precursor self‐assembly and the formation of the chiral GNRs upon annealing are revealed, along with a relatively small electronic bandgap of approximately 1.6 eV, by scanning tunnelling microscopy and spectroscopy.

Vibrations of a single adsorbed organic molecule: anharmonicity matters!

2010

Vibrational spectroscopy is a powerful tool to identify molecules and to characterise their chemical state. Inelastic electron tunnelling spectroscopy (IETS) combined with scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM) allows the application of vibrational analysis to a single molecule. Up to now, IETS was restricted to small species due to the complexity of vibration spectra for larger molecules. We extend the horizon of IETS for both experiment and theory by measuring the STM-IETS spectra of mercaptopyridine adsorbed on the (111) surface of gold and comparing it to theoretical spectra. Such complex spectra with more than 20 lines can be reliably determined and computed leading to completely new ins…

Frequency and temperature dependence of the electrical conductivity of KTaO3; Li and PbTiO3; La, Cu: Indication of a low temperature polaron mechanism

2008

Abstract Recently, the concept of polarons has again been at the focus of solid-state research, as it can constitute the basis for understanding the high-temperature superconductivity or the colossal magnetoresistance of materials. More than a decade ago there were some indications that polarons play an important role in explaining low temperature maxima in imaginary part of the dielectric constant e ″ ( T ) in ABO3 perovskites. In the present work we report the ac electrical conductivities of KTaO3; Li and PbTiO3; La, Cu and their frequency and temperature dependence. The real part of the complex ac conductivity was found to follow the universal dielectric response σ ′ ∝ ν s . A detailed t…

Multiply charged metal cluster anions

2000

Formation, stability patterns, and decay channels of silver dianionic and gold trianionic clusters are investigated with Penning-trap experiments and a shell-correction method including shape deformations. The theoretical predictions pertaining to the appearance sizes and electronic shell effects are in remarkable agreement with the experiments. Decay of the multiply anionic clusters occurs predominantly by electron tunneling through a Coulomb barrier, rather than via fission, leading to appearance sizes unrelated to those of multiply cationic clusters.

Real-space Wigner-Seitz Cells Imaging of Potassium on Graphite via Elastic Atomic Manipulation

2015

Atomic manipulation in the scanning tunnelling microscopy, conventionally a tool to build nanostructures one atom at a time, is here employed to enable the atomic-scale imaging of a model low-dimensional system. Specifically, we use low-temperature STM to investigate an ultra thin film (4 atomic layers) of potassium created by epitaxial growth on a graphite substrate. The STM images display an unexpected honeycomb feature, which corresponds to a real-space visualization of the Wigner-Seitz cells of the close-packed surface K atoms. Density functional simulations indicate that this behaviour arises from the elastic, tip-induced vertical manipulation of potassium atoms during imaging, i.e. el…

Direct observation of second-order atom tunnelling

2007

Tunnelling of material particles through a classically impenetrable barrier constitutes one of the hallmark effects of quantum physics. When interactions between the particles compete with their mobility through a tunnel junction, intriguing novel dynamical behaviour can arise where particles do not tunnel independently. In single-electron or Bloch transistors, for example, the tunnelling of an electron or Cooper pair can be enabled or suppressed by the presence of a second charge carrier due to Coulomb blockade. Here we report on the first direct and time-resolved observation of correlated tunnelling of two interacting atoms through a barrier in a double well potential. We show that for we…

2015

AbstractAtomic manipulation in the scanning tunnelling microscopy, conventionally a tool to build nanostructures one atom at a time, is here employed to enable the atomic-scale imaging of a model low-dimensional system. Specifically, we use low-temperature STM to investigate an ultra thin film (4 atomic layers) of potassium created by epitaxial growth on a graphite substrate. The STM images display an unexpected honeycomb feature, which corresponds to a real-space visualization of the Wigner-Seitz cells of the close-packed surface K atoms. Density functional simulations indicate that this behaviour arises from the elastic, tip-induced vertical manipulation of potassium atoms during imaging,…

Wide-range thermometer based on the temperature-dependent conductance of planar tunnel junctions

2000

The effect of the Fermi–Dirac distribution on the current through standard planar tunnel junctions is a suitable basis for thermometry in a wide temperature range. In particular, it extends the range spanned by Coulomb-blockade thermometers up to room temperature.

Persistent currents in a circular array of Bose-Einstein condensates

2002

A ring-shaped array of Bose-Einstein condensed atomic gases can display circular currents if the relative phase of neighboring condensates becomes locked to certain values. It is shown that, irrespective of the mechanism responsible for generating these states, only a restricted set of currents are stable, depending on the number of condensates, on the interaction and tunneling energies, and on the total number of particles. Different instabilities due to quasiparticle excitations are characterized and possible experimental setups for testing the stability prediction are also discussed.

Asymmetric Tunneling Conductance and the non-Fermi Liquid Behavior of Strongly Correlated Fermi Systems

2018

Tunneling differential conductivity (or resistivity) is a sensitive tool to experimentally test the nonFermi liquid behavior of strongly correlated Fermi systems. In the case of common metals the Landau– Fermi liquid theory demonstrates that the differential conductivity is a symmetric function of bias voltage V . This is because the particle-hole symmetry is conserved in the Landau–Fermi liquid state. When a strongly correlated Fermi system turns out to be near the topological fermion condensation quantum phase transition, its Landau–Fermi liquid properties disappear so that the particle-hole symmetry breaks making the differential tunneling conductivity to be asymmetric function of V . Th…