title: Are conductance plateaus independent events in atomic point contact measurements? A statistical approach.
abstract: Conductance-elongation curves of gold atomic wires are measured using a scanning tunneling microscope break junction technique at room temperature. Landauer's conductance plateaus are individually identified and statistically analyzed. Both the probabilities to observe and the lengths of the two last plateaus (at conductance values close to 2e(2)/h and 4e(2)/h) are studied. All results converge to show that the occurrences of these two conductance plateaus on a conductance-elongation curve are statistically independent events.
authors.affiliation: CINaM-CNRS 3118, Aix-Marseille Université, Faculté de Luminy, Case 913, 13288, Marseille Cedex, France.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Leoni
authors.forename: Remi
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Zoubkoff
authors.forename: Sabrina
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Homri
authors.forename: Nadine
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Candoni
authors.forename: Petar
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Vidakovic
authors.forename: Alain
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ranguis
authors.forename: Hubert
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Klein
authors.forename: Andrés
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Saúl
authors.forename: Philippe
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Dumas