Vibrationally coupled electron transport in single-molecule junctions: The importance of electron-hole pair creation processes

Abstract

Vibrationally coupled electron transport through single-molecule junctions is considered. Reviewing our recent theoretical work, we show that electron-hole pair creation processes represent the key to understand the vibrational excitation characteristic of a single-molecule contact. Moreover, these processes can lead to a number of interesting transport phenomena such as, for example, negative differential resistance, rectification, mode-selective vibrational excitation and a pronounced temperature dependence of the electrical current. Thus, electron-hole pair creation processes are crucial to elucidate the basic mechanisms of vibrationally coupled electron transport through a single-molecule contact, despite the fact that these processes do not directly contribute to the electrical current that is flowing through the junction.

13 article pages, 13 figures; review article submitted to PSS (b) for the special issue 'Quantum transport at the molecular scale'

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Cited by in corpus (9)

• Decoherence and lead induced inter-dot coupling in nonequilibrium electron transport through interacting quantum dots: A hierarchical quantum master equation approach
• Nonequilibrium quantum systems with electron-phonon interactions: Transient dynamics and approach to steady state
• Hierarchical equations of motion approach to hybrid fermionic and bosonic environments: Matrix product state formulation in twin space
• Extending the hierarchical quantum master equation approach to low temperatures and realistic band structures
• Current Noise in Single-Molecule Junctions Induced by Electronic-Vibrational Coupling
• Unraveling current-induced dissociation mechanisms in 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
• A Quasi-Classical Mapping Approach to Vibrationally Coupled Electron Transport in Molecular Junctions
• Vibrationally dependent electron-electron interactions in resonant electron transport through single-molecule junctions