title: Negative differential conductance and hysteretic current switching of benzene molecular junction in a transverse electric field.
abstract: We study charge transport through single benzene molecular junction (BMJ) directly sandwiched between two platinum electrodes by using a tight-binding model and the non-equilibrium Green's function approach. Pronounced negative differential conductance is observed at finite bias voltage, resulting from charge redistribution in BMJ and a Coulomb blockade effect at the interface of molecule-electrode contacts. In the presence of a transverse electric field, hysteretic switching behavior and large spin-polarization of current are obtained, indicating the potential application of BMJ for acting as a nanoscale current modulator or spintronic molecular device.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Artificial Structures and Quantum Control (Ministry of Education), Department of Physics and Astronomy, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 800 Dongchuan Road, Shanghai 200240, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Wen-Huan
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: Guo-Hui
authors.initials: GH
authors.lastname: Ding
authors.forename: Bing
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Dong