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SUMMARY:The rich physics of nanowires - Professor Adrian Sutton\, Departme
 nt of Physics\, Imperial College London
DTSTART:20061101T161500Z
DTEND:20061101T173000Z
UID:TALK5819@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Professor Mark Warner
DESCRIPTION:Metallic nanowires as narrow as a single atom and attached to 
 metallic electrodes have been made since the 90s. The properties of these 
 wires have been explored both experimentally and theoretically. Electronic
  transport is ballistic rather than diffusional and its description must a
 llow for the quantum scattering of electron waves by structural features a
 nd vibrations. In this talk I shall describe how the mechanical stability 
 of these wires affects their electronic properties and how electronic cond
 uction influences their mechanical properties. I will also present a new t
 heory of electromigration in ballistic contacts\, based on an application 
 of equilibrium thermodynamics to this non-equilibrium process in the stead
 y-state. The macroscopic thermodynamic driving force for electromigration 
 is identified and shown analytically to be identical to the microscopic de
 scription of the force in terms of a generalized Hellmann-Feynman theorem.
 \n\nThe talk will be primarily theoretical and computational but I will de
 scribe some key experiments and controversies in the field.
LOCATION:Pippard Lecture Theatre\, Cavendish Laboratory\, Department of Ph
 ysics
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