Dresden 2003 – scientific programme

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MA: Magnetismus

MA 30: Spinabh
ängige Transportph
änomene II

MA 30.5: Talk

Friday, March 28, 2003, 11:45–12:00, HSZ/401

Stability and transport of nanocontacts: Ab initio description — •Ingrid Mertig¹, Alexej Bagrets^1,2, Nikos Papanikolaou¹, Michael Czerner¹, Valeri Stepanyuk², Artjom Baranov¹, Andrej Klavsyuk¹, and Wolfram Hergert¹ — ¹Martin-Luther-Universität Halle, Fachbereich Physik, D-06099 Halle, Germany — ²Max-Planck-Institut für Mikrostrukturphysik, D-06120 Halle, Germany

We present ab initio calculations of the transport properties of metallic atomic-sized nanocontacts. The nanocontacts were modelled by atomic chains of Co, Fe, Cu, Si, Al separating two semi-infinite Cu- or Co-leads. The atomic positions of the atoms in the chains were relaxed. Stability of the wires is discussed with respect to the electronic structure of the system. We used the first-principle screened Korringa-Kohn-Rostoker method to calculate the electronic properties of the systems, treating the leads and atomic chains on the same footing without any model parameters. The Landauer formalism was applied to investigate the conductance and magnetoresistance (MR).