title: Negative differential resistance in phenylene ethynylene oligomers.
abstract: The origin of the sharp peak profile (i.e., negative differential resistance, NDR) observed in the I/V curves of three-ring phenylene ethynylene oligomers is a topic of major current interest. Here, quantum-chemical calculations are performed to analyze the evolution of the one-electron structure of an unsubstituted three-ring oligomer under the influence of a static electric field (which models the driving voltage applied in the experiments). The results indicate that the rotation of the central ring of the oligomer induces resonant tunneling processes over a limited voltage range. This can thus be responsible for the NDR signature observed experimentally.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Chemistry of Novel Materials, Center for Research on Molecular Electronics and Photonics, University of Mons-Hainaut, Place du Parc 20, B-7000 Mons, Belgium.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cornil
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Karzazi
authors.forename: J L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Brédas