Current-induced nonequilibrium vibrations in single-molecule devices

Abstract

Finite-bias electron transport through single molecules generally induces nonequilibrium molecular vibrations (phonons). By a mapping to a Fokker-Planck equation, we obtain analytical scaling forms for the nonequilibrium phonon distribution in the limit of weak electron-phonon coupling $\lambda$ within a minimal model. Remarkably, the width of the phonon distribution diverges as $\sim {\lambda }^{-\alpha }$ when the coupling decreases, with voltage-dependent, non-integer exponents $\alpha$. This implies a breakdown of perturbation theory in the electron-phonon coupling for fully developed nonequilibrium. We also discuss possible experimental implications of this result such as current-induced dissociation of molecules.

7 pages, 4 figures; revised and extended version published in Phys. Rev. B

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Cited by in corpus (70)

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• Vibrational Instabilities in Resonant Electron Transport through Single-Molecule Junctions
• Phonon runaway in nanotube quantum dots
• Nonlinear effects of phonon fluctuations on transport through nanoscale junctions
• Hierarchical quantum master equation approach to electronic-vibrational coupling in nonequilibrium transport through nanosystems: Reservoir formulation and application to vibrational instabilities
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• The Anderson--Holstein Model in Two Flavors of the Non--Crossing Approximation
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• Out-of-equilibrium catalysis of chemical reactions by electronic tunnel currents
• Kramers problem for nonequilibrium current-induced chemical reactions
• Local Temperatures Out of Equilibrium
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• Electronic friction near metal surfaces: a case where molecule-metal couplings depend on nuclear coordinates
• Anomalous suppression of the shot noise in a nanoelectromechanical system
• Effect of nonadiabatic electronic-vibrational interactions on the transport properties of single-molecule junctions
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• Cooling by heating in nonequilibrium nanosystems
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• Hierarchical quantum master equation approach to current fluctuations in nonequilibrium charge transport through nanosystems
• Thermoelectric study of dissipative quantum dot heat engines
• Signatures of electron-magnon interaction in charge and spin currents in magnetic tunnel junctions: A nonequilibrium many-body perturbation theory approach
• 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
• Waiting time distribution for electron transport in a molecular junction with electron-vibration interaction
• Nuclear dynamics at molecule-metal interfaces: A pseudoparticle perspective
• Effects of electron-phonon interaction on thermal and electrical transport through molecular nano-conductors
• Sharp peaks in the conductance of double quantum dot and quantum dot spin-valve systems at high temperatures: A hierarchical quantum master equation approach
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• 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
• Vibrationally coupled electron transport in single-molecule junctions: The importance of electron-hole pair creation processes
• Electron transport in nanoscale junctions with local anharmonic modes
• Charge-vibration interaction effects in normal-superconductor quantum dots
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• Phonon Spectroscopy by Electric Measurements of Coupled Quantum Dots
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• Simulating electron-vibron energy transfer with quantum dots and resonators