Vibration-induced correction to the current through a single molecule

TL;DR

This paper provides analytical insights into how weak electron-phonon interactions affect the current-voltage characteristics of a vibrating molecule, revealing a nonuniversal step change at the vibration frequency.

Contribution

It offers a perturbative analytical framework for understanding current corrections due to molecular vibrations in electron transport.

Findings

Conductance shows a step at eV=ħω₀ due to vibrations.

The sign of the conductance step can change depending on system parameters.

The sign change is nonuniversal and influenced by various factors.

Abstract

We provide analytical results for the perturbative correction to the current-voltage relation through a vibrating molecule for weak electron-phonon coupling. The nonlinear conductance exhibits a step-like feature at $eV=\hbar \omega_0$, where $\omega_0$ is the vibration frequency. We establish criteria for the sign change of the step in the conductance (up or down). This transition turns out to be nonuniversal and is governed by essentially all system parameters.