Different wavelength oscillations in the conductance of 5d metal atomic chains

TL;DR

This paper investigates the conductance oscillations in 5d metal atomic chains, revealing unique longer-period oscillations in Pt and Ir due to d-band effects, aligning with recent experimental data.

Contribution

It introduces a combined ab-initio and tight-binding approach to analyze conductance oscillations in 5d metal chains, highlighting new longer-period phenomena in Pt and Ir.

Findings

Au chains show even-odd conductance oscillations.

Pt and Ir chains exhibit longer-period oscillations due to d bands.

Results agree with recent experimental measurements.

Abstract

Combining ab-initio and self-consistent parametrized tight-binding calculations we analyze the conductance properties of atomic chains of 5d elements like Au, Pt and Ir. It is shown that, in addition to the even-odd parity oscillations characteristic of Au, conduction channels associated with the almost full d bands in Pt and Ir give rise to longer periods which could be observed in sufficiently long chains. The results for short chains are in good agreement with recent experimental measurements.