Dresden 2009 – scientific programme

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SYAI: Symposium Ab-Initio Approaches to Excitations in Condensed Matter

SYAI 1: Invited Talks

SYAI 1.6: Invited Talk

Thursday, March 26, 2009, 18:00–18:30, SCH 251

Electron tunneling and transport at molecular junctions — •Roberto Car — Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA

In this talk I will review recent progress on the theory of electron transport through molecular junctions. Under weak bias conditions this problem can be effectively formulated within linear response theory. In the case of non-resonant tunneling this approach leads to a simple formula that can be applied to interpret the conductance of long molecular chains measured in recent experiments. I will also discuss a kinetic formulation of quantum transport which is valid under more general bias conditions. This approach illustrates the interplay between ballistic and dissipative effects in molecular electronics. Finally, I will comment on the use of density functional theory in transport problems.