Crossover from Electronic to Atomic Shell Structure in Alkali Metal Nanowires
arXiv:cond-mat/0105216 · doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.87.216805
Abstract
After making a cold weld by pressing two clean metal surfaces together, upon gradually separating the two pieces a metallic nanowire is formed, which progressively thins down to a single atom before contact is lost. In previous experiments [1,2] we have observed that the stability of such nanowires is influenced by electronic shell filling effects, in analogy to shell effects in metal clusters [3]. For sodium and potassium at larger diameters there is a crossover to crystalline wires with shell-closings corresponding to the completion of additional atomic layers. This observation completes the analogy between shell effects observed for clusters and nanowires.
4 pages
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