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In-chain tunneling through charge-density-wave nanoconstrictions and break junctions

Cornell Affiliated Author(s)

Author

K. O'Neill
E. Slot
R.E. Thorne
H.S.J. Van Der Zant

Abstract

We have fabricated longitudinal nanoconstrictions in the charge-density wave conductor (CDW) NbSe3 using a focused ion beam and using a mechanically controlled break-junction technique. Conductance peaks are observed below the TP1=145K and TP2=59K CDW transitions, which correspond closely with previous values of the full CDW gaps 2Δ1 and 2Δ2 obtained from photoemission. These results can be explained by assuming CDW-CDW tunneling in the presence of an energy gap corrugation 2 comparable to Δ2, which eliminates expected peaks at ±|Δ1+Δ2|. The nanometer length scales our experiments imply indicate that an alternative explanation based on tunneling through back-to-back CDW-normal-conductor junctions is unlikely. © 2006 The American Physical Society.

Date Published

Journal

Physical Review Letters

Volume

96

Issue

9

URL

https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-33644981057&doi=10.1103%2fPhysRevLett.96.096402&partnerID=40&md5=4bb83ce8763964da4ee1005bff52ab7e

DOI

10.1103/PhysRevLett.96.096402

Group (Lab)

Robert Thorne Group

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