Vibrational Instabilities in Resonant Electron Transport through Single-Molecule Junctions

Abstract

We analyze various limits of vibrationally coupled resonant electron transport in single-molecule junctions. Based on a master equation approach, we discuss analytic and numerical results for junctions under a high bias voltage or weak electronic-vibrational coupling. It is shown that in these limits the vibrational excitation of the molecular bridge increases indefinitely, i.e. the junction exhibits a vibrational instability. Moreover, our analysis provides analytic results for the vibrational distribution function and reveals that these vibrational instabilities are related to electron-hole pair creation processes.

19 pages, 3 figures

References in corpus (29)

• Molecular Transport Junctions: Vibrational Effects
• Real-time path integral approach to nonequilibrium many-body quantum system
• Electrical generation and absorption of phonons in carbon nanotubes
• Tunneling in suspended carbon nanotubes assisted by longitudinal phonons
• Inelastic scattering and local heating in atomic gold wires
• Iterative real-time path integral approach to nonequilibrium quantum transport
• Tunneling through molecules and quantum dots: master-equation approaches
• Tuning the Kondo effect with a mechanically controllable break junction
• Kinetic Equations for Transport Through Single-Molecule Transistors
• Numerically exact path integral simulation of nonequilibrium quantum transport and dissipation
• Resonant Electron Transport in Single-Molecule Junctions: Vibrational Excitation, Rectification, Negative Differential Resistance and Local Cooling
• Current-induced nonequilibrium vibrations in single-molecule devices
• Tunneling through nanosystems: Combining broadening with many-particle states
• Transport in molecular states language: Generalized quantum master equation approach
• Many-body theory of electronic transport in single-molecule heterojunctions
• Phonon-assisted current noise in molecular junctions
• Vibrationally Induced Two-Level Systems in Single-Molecule Junctions
• Inelastic effects in molecular junctions in the Coulomb and Kondo regimes: Nonequilibrium equation-of-motion approach
• Vibrational effects in laser driven molecular wires
• Pumping of vibrational excitations in a Coulomb blockaded suspended carbon nanotube
• Phonon runaway in nanotube quantum dots
• Time-convolutionless master equation for quantum dots: Perturbative expansion to arbitrary order
• A self-consistent quantum master equation approach to molecular transport
• From tunneling to contact: Inelastic signals in an atomic gold junction
• Non-linear response of molecular junctions: The polaron model revisited
• Vibrational absorption sidebands in the Coulomb blockade regime of single-molecule transistors
• Vibronic effects on resonant electron conduction through single molecule junctions
• Mode-selective vibrational excitation induced by nonequilibrium transport processes in single-molecule junctions
• Quantum transport in a resonant tunnel junction coupled to a nanomechanical oscillator

Cited by in corpus (49)

• Decoherence and lead induced inter-dot coupling in nonequilibrium electron transport through interacting quantum dots: A hierarchical quantum master equation approach
• Born-Oppenheimer Dynamics, Electronic Friction, and the Inclusion of Electron-Electron Interactions
• Nonequilibrium quantum systems with electron-phonon interactions: Transient dynamics and approach to steady state
• Vibrational cooling, heating, and instability in molecular conducting junctions: Full counting statistics analysis
• Beyond Marcus theory and the Landauer-Büttiker approach in molecular junctions: A unified framework
• Path-integral simulations with fermionic and bosonic reservoirs: Transport and dissipation in molecular electronic junctions
• Hierarchical quantum master equation approach to electronic-vibrational coupling in nonequilibrium transport through nanosystems: Reservoir formulation and application to vibrational instabilities
• Bias-Controlled Selective Excitation of Vibrational Modes in Molecular Junctions: A Route Towards Mode-Selective Chemistry
• Sub-Ohmic to super-Ohmic crossover behavior in nonequilibrium quantum systems with electron-phonon interactions
• Current-induced bond rupture in single-molecule junctions
• Kramers problem for nonequilibrium current-induced chemical reactions
• The formation of nonequilibrium steady states in interacting double quantum dots: When coherences dominate the charge distribution
• Vibrationally Induced Decoherence in Single-Molecule Junctions
• Current Noise in Single-Molecule Junctions Induced by Electronic-Vibrational Coupling
• Electronic friction near metal surfaces: a case where molecule-metal couplings depend on nuclear coordinates
• Nonequilibrium perturbation theory in Liouville-Fock space for inelastic electron transport
• Effect of nonadiabatic electronic-vibrational interactions on the transport properties of single-molecule junctions
• Charge-carrier-induced frequency renormalization, damping and heating of vibrational modes in nanoscale junctions
• Cooling by heating in nonequilibrium nanosystems
• Hierarchical quantum master equation approach to current fluctuations in nonequilibrium charge transport through nanosystems
• The universality of electronic friction II: Equivalence of the quantum-classical Liouville equation approach with von Oppen's nonequilibrium Green's function methods out of equilibrium
• Effects of electron-phonon interaction on thermal and electrical transport through molecular nano-conductors
• Beyond Marcus theory and the Landauer-Buttiker approach in molecular junctions. II. A self-consistent Born approach
• Electron-phonon thermalization in a scalable method for real-time quantum dynamics
• Nonequilibrium open quantum systems with multiple bosonic and fermionic environments: A hierarchical equations of motion approach
• Inelastic effects in molecular transport junctions: The probe technique at high bias
• Current-induced dissociation in molecular junctions beyond the paradigm of vibrational heating: The role of anti-bonding electronic states
• Microwave quantum optics and electron transport through a metallic dot strongly coupled to a transmission line cavity
• High voltage assisted mechanical stabilization of single-molecule junctions
• Effect of broadening in the weak coupling limit of vibrationally coupled electron transport through molecular junctions and the analogy to quantum dot circuit QED systems
• Thermodynamics of the polaron master equation at finite bias
• A Quasi-Classical Mapping Approach to Vibrationally Coupled Electron Transport in Molecular Junctions
• First-passage time theory of activated rate chemical processes in electronic molecular junctions
• Vibrationally dependent electron-electron interactions in resonant electron transport through single-molecule junctions
• Nonequilibrium Green's function theory for nonadiabatic effects in quantum electron transport
• Bistability and Displacement Fluctuations in a Quantum Nano-mechanical Oscillator
• Electron transport in nanoscale junctions with local anharmonic modes
• Vibrationally coupled electron transport in single-molecule junctions: The importance of electron-hole pair creation processes
• Cooling molecular electronic junctions by AC current
• Non-equilibrium Green's function theory for non-adiabatic effects in quantum transport: inclusion of electron-electron interactions
• Current-induced forces in nanosystems: A hierarchical equations of motion approach
• Emergence of negative viscosities and colored noise under current-driven Ehrenfest molecular dynamics
• The Anderson impurity model out of equilibrium: Assessing the accuracy of simulation techniques with an exact current-occupation relation
• Length-dependent Seebeck effect in single-molecule junctions beyond linear response regime
• Magnetic field control of the Franck-Condon coupling of few-electron quantum states
• Exact solution of electronic transport in semiconductors dominated by scattering on polaronic impurities
• Nonequilibrium reservoir engineering of a biased coherent conductor for hybrid energy transport in nanojunctions
• Simulating electron-vibron energy transfer with quantum dots and resonators
• A semiclassical nonequilibrium Green's Function approach to electron transport in systems exhibiting electron-phonon couplings