title: Zero-voltage conductance of short gold nanowires.
abstract: Using the Landauer formula, the conductance of short gold wires is studied. The required electronic structure calculations are performed with a self-consistent tight-binding method. We consider gold wires of single-atom diameter with a variable number (N=1, em leader,5) of atoms. Depending on N, we find considerable conductance variations with one conductance quantum being the upper limit. The results are confirmed by means of Friedel's sum rule. Tip-shaped clusters are used to provide the contact-wire interfaces and the relation between various tip structures and the conductance is discussed. Our predictions about the conductance variations agree qualitatively with new experimental results.
authors.affiliation: Departement de Chimie, Universite de Montreal, C.P. 6128 Succursale A, Montreal, Quebec, H3C 3J7 Canada.
authors.forename: Min
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zhuang
authors.forename: Matthias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ernzerhof