Fluctuational Instabilities of Alkali and Noble Metal Nanowires

TL;DR

This paper presents a continuum stochastic field theory approach to estimate the lifetimes of alkali and noble metal nanowires, explaining conductance differences and fluctuation-induced instabilities.

Contribution

It introduces a self-consistent theoretical framework using Ginzburg-Landau models to analyze nanowire stability and conductance behavior.

Findings

Quantitative lifetime estimates for alkali nanowires in specific conductance range

Explanation of qualitative differences in conductance histograms between alkali and noble metals

A novel continuum approach to nanowire fluctuation dynamics

Abstract

We introduce a continuum approach to studying the lifetimes of monovalent metal nanowires. By modelling the thermal fluctuations of cylindrical nanowires through the use of stochastic Ginzburg-Landau classical field theories, we construct a self-consistent approach to the fluctuation-induced `necking' of nanowires. Our theory provides quantitative estimates of the lifetimes for alkali metal nanowires in the conductance range 10 < G/G_0 < 100 (where G_0=2e^2/h is the conductance quantum), and allows us to account for qualitative differences in the conductance histograms of alkali vs. noble metal nanowires.