Conduction Channels of One-Atom Zinc Contacts

Abstract

We have determined the transmission coefficients of atomic-sized Zn contacts using a new type of breakjunction which contains a whisker as a central bridge. We find that in the last conductance plateau the transport is unexpectedly dominated by a well-transmitting single conduction channel. We explain the experimental findings with the help of a tight-binding model which shows that in an one-atom Zn contact the current proceeds through the 4s and 4p orbitals of the central atom.

arXiv commentrevtex4, 5 pages, 5 figures

References in corpus (5)

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• Hamiltonian approach to the transport properties of superconducting quantum point contacts
• AC JOSEPHSON EFFECT IN A SINGLE QUANTUM CHANNEL
• Microscopic origin of the conducting channels in metallic atomic-size contacts
• First-principles Simulations of the stretching and final breaking of Al nanowires: Mechanical properties and electrical conductance

Cited by in corpus (4)

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