Quantized conductance in an atom-sized point contact

L. Olesen, E. Laegsgaard, I. Stensgaard, F. Besenbacher, J. Schio/tz, P. Stoltze, K. W. Jacobsen, and J. K. No/rskov
Phys. Rev. Lett. 72, 2251 – Published 4 April 1994
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Abstract

We present direct measurements at room temperature of the conductance of a point contact between a scanning tunneling microscope tip and Ni, Cu, and Pt surfaces. As the contact is stretched the conductance jumps in units of 2e2/h. Atomistic simulations of the stretch of the contact combined with calculations of the conductance using the Landauer formula show that the observed behavior is due to the quantization of the transverse electron motion in a contact which contains between one and ten atoms.

  • Received 22 December 1993

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.72.2251

©1994 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

L. Olesen, E. Laegsgaard, I. Stensgaard, and F. Besenbacher

  • Center for Atomic-scale Materials Physics and Institute of Physics Astronomy, Aarhus University, Dk 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark

J. Schio/tz, P. Stoltze, K. W. Jacobsen, and J. K. No/rskov

  • Center for Atomic-scale Materials Physics and Department of Physics, Technical University of Denmark, DK 2800 Lyngby, Denmark

Comments & Replies

Olesen et al. Reply:

L. Olesen, E. Laegsgaard, I. Stensgaard, F. Besenbacher, J. Schiøtz, P. Stoltze, K. W. Jacobsen, and J. K. Nørskov
Phys. Rev. Lett. 74, 2147 (1995)

Comment on "Quantized Conductance in an Atom-Sized Point Contact"

J. M. Krans, C. J. Muller, N. van der Post, F. R. Postma, A. P. Sutton, T. N. Todorov, and J. M. van Ruitenbeek
Phys. Rev. Lett. 74, 2146 (1995)

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Vol. 72, Iss. 14 — 4 April 1994

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