Measurement of electronic transport through 1G0 gold contacts under laser irradiation.

Metal quantum point contacts (MQPCs) with dimensions comparable to the de Broglie wavelength of conducting electrons reveal ballistic transport of electrons and quantized conductance in units of G(0) = 2e(2)/h. We measure the transport properties of 1G(0) Au contacts under laser irradiation. The observed enhancement of conductance appears to be wavelength-dependent, while thermal effects on conductance are determined to be negligible.

Detection of heating in current-carrying molecular junctions by Raman scattering.

As the scaling of electronic components continues, local heating will have an increasing influence on the stability and performance of nanoscale electronic devices. In particular, the low heat capacity of molecular junctions means that it will be essential to understand local heating and heat conduction in these junctions. Here we report a method for directly monitoring the effective temperature of current-carrying junctions with surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) that involves measuring both the Stokes and anti-Stokes components of the Raman scattering.

Fabrication of highly stable configurable metal quantum point contacts.

Metal quantum point contacts (MQPCs), with dimensions comparable to the de Broglie wavelength of conducting electrons, reveal ballistic transport of electrons and quantized conductance in units of G0=2e(2)/h. While these contacts hold great promise for applications such as coherent controlled devices and atomic switches, their realization is mainly based on the scanning tunneling microscope (STM) and mechanically controlled break junction (MCBJ), which cannot be integrated into electronic circuits. MQPCs produced by these techniques have also limited stability at room temperature.