Conductance of atomic size contacts of Ag and Au at high magnetic fields

Fuente: arXiv
Gespeichert in:
Bibliographische Detailangaben
Hauptverfasser: Wu, Beilun, Martínez, Andrés, Obladen, Paula, Fernández-Lomana, Marta, Herrera, Edwin, Sabater, Carlos, Palacios, Juan José, Guillamón, Isabel, Suderow, Hermann
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2024
Schlagworte:
Online-Zugang:
Tags: Tag hinzufügen
Keine Tags, Fügen Sie den ersten Tag hinzu!
_version_ 1866910002293243904
author Wu, Beilun
Martínez, Andrés
Obladen, Paula
Fernández-Lomana, Marta
Herrera, Edwin
Sabater, Carlos
Palacios, Juan José
Guillamón, Isabel
Suderow, Hermann
author_facet Wu, Beilun
Martínez, Andrés
Obladen, Paula
Fernández-Lomana, Marta
Herrera, Edwin
Sabater, Carlos
Palacios, Juan José
Guillamón, Isabel
Suderow, Hermann
contents Electronic conduction at the atomic scale can be described by Landauer's formalism. In single atom point contacts of noble metals like Au and Ag, there is just one channel open between both electrodes and the conductance is very close to the quantum of conductance $G \approx G_0=\frac{2e^2}{h}$, with the factor of two coming from spin degeneracy. The magnetoconductivity of atomic size contacts has been studied for numerous systems, unveiling local Kondo screening, magnetic order and spin-polarized currents. However, these have been mostly performed in elements with multiple open conduction channels where $G$ differs from $G_0$. The realization of a magnetically active conductor with a single open channel remains difficult to achieve. Here we present measurements of the electronic conductance of single channel Au and Ag atomic-size contacts in magnetic fields up to 20 Tesla. We observe a decrease in $G$ which goes up to about 15% in many Au contacts at 20 T. We perform calculations and find that pure Ag and Au do not present a strong field dependence of $G$, in agreement with previous results at smaller magnetic fields. We also find, however, that residual O$_2$ molecules attached close to the contact produce an an induced spin-polarized current, which leads to a decrease in $G$. We discuss the role of the magnetic response of the electrodes in the jump to contact. Our results suggest that single channel atomic size conductors with a sizeable response to a magnetic field can be built by combining noble metals and magnetically active molecular systems.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2407_20577
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Conductance of atomic size contacts of Ag and Au at high magnetic fields
Wu, Beilun
Martínez, Andrés
Obladen, Paula
Fernández-Lomana, Marta
Herrera, Edwin
Sabater, Carlos
Palacios, Juan José
Guillamón, Isabel
Suderow, Hermann
Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
Materials Science
Strongly Correlated Electrons
Electronic conduction at the atomic scale can be described by Landauer's formalism. In single atom point contacts of noble metals like Au and Ag, there is just one channel open between both electrodes and the conductance is very close to the quantum of conductance $G \approx G_0=\frac{2e^2}{h}$, with the factor of two coming from spin degeneracy. The magnetoconductivity of atomic size contacts has been studied for numerous systems, unveiling local Kondo screening, magnetic order and spin-polarized currents. However, these have been mostly performed in elements with multiple open conduction channels where $G$ differs from $G_0$. The realization of a magnetically active conductor with a single open channel remains difficult to achieve. Here we present measurements of the electronic conductance of single channel Au and Ag atomic-size contacts in magnetic fields up to 20 Tesla. We observe a decrease in $G$ which goes up to about 15% in many Au contacts at 20 T. We perform calculations and find that pure Ag and Au do not present a strong field dependence of $G$, in agreement with previous results at smaller magnetic fields. We also find, however, that residual O$_2$ molecules attached close to the contact produce an an induced spin-polarized current, which leads to a decrease in $G$. We discuss the role of the magnetic response of the electrodes in the jump to contact. Our results suggest that single channel atomic size conductors with a sizeable response to a magnetic field can be built by combining noble metals and magnetically active molecular systems.
title Conductance of atomic size contacts of Ag and Au at high magnetic fields
topic Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
Materials Science
Strongly Correlated Electrons
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2407.20577