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Fluctuational Instabilities of Alkali and Noble Metal Nanowires

J. Bürki·C. A. Stafford·D. L. Stein
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Abstract

We introduce a continuum approach to studying the lifetimes of monovalent metal nanowires. By modelling the thermal fluctuations of cylindrical nanowires through the use of stochastic Ginzburg-Landau classical field theories, we construct a self-consistent approach to the fluctuation-induced `necking' of nanowires. Our theory provides quantitative estimates of the lifetimes for alkali metal nanowires in the conductance range 10 < G/G_0 < 100 (where G_0=2e^2/h is the conductance quantum), and allows us to account for qualitative differences in the conductance histograms of alkali vs. noble metal nanowires.

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J. Bürki, C. A. Stafford, D. L. Stein. 2004-06-16. Fluctuational Instabilities of Alkali and Noble Metal Nanowires. https://doi.org/10.1117/12.546590

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