title: Ab initio analysis of electron-phonon coupling in molecular devices.
abstract: We report a first principles analysis of electron-phonon coupling in molecular devices under external bias voltage and during current flow. Our theory and computational framework are based on carrying out density functional theory within the Keldysh nonequilibrium Green's function formalism. Using a molecular tunnel junction of a 1,4-benzenedithiolate molecule contacted by two aluminum leads as an example, we analyze which molecular vibrational modes are most relevant to charge transport under nonequilibrium conditions. We find that the low-lying modes are most important. As a function of bias voltage, the electron-phonon coupling strength can change drastically while the vibrational spectrum changes at a few percent level.
authors.affiliation: Center for the Physics of Materials and Department of Physics, McGill University, Montreal, PQ, Canada, H3A 2T8.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Sergueev
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Roubtsov
authors.forename: Hong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Guo