Abstract
We study the electronic and transport properties of artificial Au atomic chains on a NiAl(110) surface template using state-of-the-art first principles calculations. Au chains display remarkable one-dimensional electronic properties that can be tuned by the selective adsorption of small molecules: a single CO group is shown to modulate the electronic wave functions, acting as a “chemical scissor” along the chain, to strongly modify the coherent transport properties of the system, and to help design one-dimensional nanodevices through artificial profiling of energy barriers.
- Received 17 May 2004
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.93.096404
©2004 American Physical Society