Fingerprints of mesoscopic leads in the conductance of a molecular wire

TL;DR

This paper investigates how mesoscopic leads like carbon nanotubes influence the conductance of molecular wires, revealing unique contact effects and channel selection mechanisms due to the leads' low dimensionality.

Contribution

It provides an analytical study demonstrating the significant impact of mesoscopic lead geometry on molecular wire conductance, highlighting a new channel selection mechanism.

Findings

Mesoscopic leads strongly affect molecular wire conductance.

Contact geometry induces channel selection.

A sum rule characteristic of mesoscopic electrodes is identified.

Abstract

The influence of contacts on linear transport through a molecular wire attached to mesoscopic tubule leads is studied. It is shown that low dimensional leads, such as carbon nanotubes, in contrast to bulky electrodes, strongly affect transport properties. By focusing on the specificity of the lead-wire contact, we show, in a fully analytical treatment, that the geometry of this hybrid system supports a mechanism of channel selection and a sum rule, which is a distinctive hallmark of the mesoscopic nature of the electrodes.