title: Current-assisted cooling in atomic wires.
abstract: The effects of inelastic interactions between current-carrying electrons and vibrational modes of a nanoscale junction are a major limiting factor on the stability of such devices. A method for dynamical simulation of inelastic electron-ion interactions in nanoscale conductors is applied to a model system consisting of an adatom bonded to an atomic wire. It is found that the vibrational energy of such a system may decrease under bias, and furthermore that, as the bias is increased, the rate of cooling, within certain limits, will increase. This phenomenon can be understood qualitatively through low-order perturbation theory, and is due to the presence of an anti-resonance in the transmission function of the system at the Fermi level. Such current-assisted cooling may act as a stabilization mechanism, and may form the basis for a nanoscale cooling 'fan'.
authors.affiliation: Atomistic Simulation Centre, School of Mathematics and Physics, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast BT7 1NN, UK.
authors.forename: Eunan J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: McEniry
authors.forename: Tchavdar N
authors.initials: TN
authors.lastname: Todorov
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Dundas