title: Supershell structure in alkali metal nanowires.
abstract: Nanowires are formed by indenting and subsequently retracting two pieces of sodium metal. Their cross section gradually reduces upon retraction and the diameters can be obtained from the conductance. In previous work we have demonstrated that when one constructs a histogram of diameters from large numbers of indentation-retraction cycles such histograms show a periodic pattern of stable nanowire diameters due to shell structure in the conductance modes. Here, we report the observation of a modulation of this periodic pattern, in agreement with predictions of a supershell structure.
authors.affiliation: Kamerlingh Onnes Laboratorium, Universiteit Leiden, Postbus 9504, NL-2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: A I
authors.initials: AI
authors.lastname: Yanson
authors.forename: I K
authors.initials: IK
authors.lastname: Yanson
authors.lastname: van Ruitenbeek JM