Blowing the fuse: Berry's phase and runaway vibrations in molecular conductors

TY - JOUR

T1 - Blowing the fuse

T2 - Berry's phase and runaway vibrations in molecular conductors

AU - Lu, Jing Tao

AU - Brandbyge, Mads

AU - Hedegård, Per

PY - 2010/5/12

Y1 - 2010/5/12

N2 - We examine a molecular bridge connecting two metallic electrodes. We find that an electronic current passing across the bridge can cause a vibrational instability of the molecule, which ultimately can lead to a breakdown of the bridge. This instability is generated by a hitherto never considered mechanism, which surprisingly involves the quantum mechanical phase of the electronic waves, the "Berry phase". This mechanism works for highly conducting bridges, and contrary to breakdown by traditional Joule heating, this instability is deterministic and occurs at certain critical voltages. We demonstrate the new mechanism using state-of-the-art ab initio calculations on realistic molecular bridges.

AB - We examine a molecular bridge connecting two metallic electrodes. We find that an electronic current passing across the bridge can cause a vibrational instability of the molecule, which ultimately can lead to a breakdown of the bridge. This instability is generated by a hitherto never considered mechanism, which surprisingly involves the quantum mechanical phase of the electronic waves, the "Berry phase". This mechanism works for highly conducting bridges, and contrary to breakdown by traditional Joule heating, this instability is deterministic and occurs at certain critical voltages. We demonstrate the new mechanism using state-of-the-art ab initio calculations on realistic molecular bridges.

U2 - 10.1021/nl904233u

DO - 10.1021/nl904233u

M3 - Journal article

SN - 1530-6984

VL - 10

SP - 1657

EP - 1663

JO - Nano Letters

JF - Nano Letters

IS - 5

ER -