Length-dependent oscillations of the conductance through atomic chains: The importance of electronic correlations

TL;DR

This paper investigates how electron-electron interactions cause length-dependent conductance oscillations in atomic chains, highlighting the importance of correlations in transport properties.

Contribution

It demonstrates that electron-electron interactions alone can produce conductance oscillations with length-dependent periods and amplitudes, using advanced many-body simulations.

Findings

Oscillations depend on electron density in the chain.

Amplitude of oscillations can grow with chain length.

Interactions are crucial for accurate conductance modeling.

Abstract

We calculate the conductance of atomic chains as a function of their length. Using the Density Matrix Renormalization Group algorithm for a many-body model which takes into account electron-electron interactions and the shape of the contacts between the chain and the leads, we show that length-dependent oscillations of the conductance whose period depends on the electron density in the chain can result from electron-electron scattering alone. The amplitude of these oscillations can increase with the length of the chain, in contrast to the result from approaches which neglect the interactions.