Perturbation of Tunneling Processes by Mechanical Degrees of Freedom in Mesoscopic Junctions

TL;DR

This paper develops a theoretical framework to analyze how non-adiabatic mechanical motion influences tunneling currents in mesoscopic junctions, revealing inelastic signatures in the current-voltage characteristics.

Contribution

It introduces a second-order self-energy correction approach to account for mechanical perturbations in tunneling, extending existing theories to non-equilibrium conditions.

Findings

Inelastic signatures appear in the $I(V)$ characteristics.

Sharp features are observed in the $d^2I/dV^2$ spectrum.

Mechanical degrees of freedom significantly affect tunneling behavior.

Abstract

We investigate the perturbation in the tunneling current caused by non-adiabatic mechanical motion in a mesoscopic tunnel junction. A theory introduced by Caroli et al. \cite{bi1,bi2,bi3} is used to evaluate second order self-energy corrections for this non-equilibrium situation lacking translational invariance. Inelastic signatures of the mechanical degrees of freedom are found in the current-voltage $I(V)$ characteristics. These give rise to sharp features in the derivative spectrum, $d^2I/dV^2$.