Current-assisted cooling in atomic wires

Abstract

The effects of inelastic interactions between current-carrying electrons and vibrational modes of a nanoscale junction are a major limiting factor on the stability of such devices. A method for dynamical simulation of inelastic electron-ion interactions in nanoscale conductors is applied to a model system consisting of an adatom bonded to an atomic wire. It is found that the vibrational energy of such a system may decrease under bias, and furthermore that, as the bias is increased, the rate of cooling, within certain limits, will increase. This phenomenon can be understood qualitatively through low-order perturbation theory, and is due to the presence of an anti-resonance in the transmission function of the system at the Fermi level. Such current-assisted cooling may act as a stabilization mechanism, and may form the basis for a nanoscale cooling 'fan'. © 2009 IOP Publishing Ltd.