Euler buckling instability and enhanced current blockade in suspended single-electron transistors

Abstract

Single-electron transistors embedded in a suspended nanobeam or carbon nanotube may exhibit effects originating from the coupling of the electronic degrees of freedom to the mechanical oscillations of the suspended structure. Here, we investigate theoretically the consequences of a capacitive electromechanical interaction when the supporting beam is brought close to the Euler buckling instability by a lateral compressive strain. Our central result is that the low-bias current blockade, originating from the electromechanical coupling for the classical resonator, is strongly enhanced near the Euler instability. We predict that the bias voltage below which transport is blocked increases by orders of magnitude for typical parameters. This mechanism may make the otherwise elusive classical current blockade experimentally observable.

15 pages, 10 figures, 1 table; published version

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• Ultrasensitive Displacement Noise Measurement of Carbon Nanotube Mechanical Resonators
• Current-induced switching in transport through anisotropic magnetic molecules
• Signatures of the Current Blockade Instability in Suspended Carbon Nanotubes
• Current-induced atomic motion, structural instabilities, and negative temperatures on molecule-electrode interfaces in electronic junctions
• Full Electrostatic Control of Nanomechanical Buckling
• Probing nonlinear mechanical effects through electronic currents: the case of a nanomechanical resonator acting as electronic transistor
• Electro-Mechanical Transition in Quantum dots
• Magnetic effects on nonlinear mechanical properties of a suspended carbon nanotube
• Large current noise in nanoelectromechanical systems close to continuous mechanical instabilities
• Single-parameter adiabatic charge pumping in carbon nanotube resonators
• Non-linear dynamics of a driven nanomechanical single electron transistor
• Interplay of magneto-elastic and polaronic effects in electronic transport through suspended carbon-nanotube quantum dots
• Sensitivity of the mixing current technique to detect nano-mechanical motion
• Charge and heat transport of soft nanosystems in the presence of time-dependent perturbations
• Cotunneling, current blockade, and backaction forces in nanobeams close to the Euler buckling instability
• The effect of elastic disorder on single electron transport through a buckled nanotube
• Shuttle-promoted nano-mechanical current switch