Statistical analysis of the breaking processes of Ni nanowires

Magnetic properties of 2D nickel nanostrips: structure dependent magnetism and Stoner criterion

We have investigated different geometries of two-dimensional (2D) infinite length Ni nanowires of increasing width using spin density functional theory calculations. Our simulations demonstrate that the parallelogram motif is the most stable and structures that incorporate the parallelogram motif are more stable as compared to rectangular structures. The wires are conducting and the conductance channels increase with increasing width. The wires have a non-linear behavior in the ballistic anisotropic magnetoresistance ratios (BAMR) with respect to the magnetization directions. All 2D nanowires as well as Ni (1 1 1) and Ni (1 0 0) monolayer investigated are ferromagnetic under the Stoner criterion and exhibit enhanced magnetic moments as compared to bulk Ni and the respective Ni monolayers. The easy axis for all nickel nanowires under investigation is observed to be along the wire axis. The double rectangular nanowire exhibits a magnetic anomaly with a smaller magnetic moment when compared to Ni (1 0 0) monolayer and is the only structure with an easy axis perpendicular to the wire axis. The Stoner parameter which has been known to be structure independent in bulk and surfaces is found to vary with the structure and the width of the nanowires. The less stable rectangular and rhombus shaped nanowires have a higher ferromagnetic strength than parallelogram shaped nanowires.

Advanced simulation of conductance histograms validated through channel-sensitive experiments on indium nanojunctions

We demonstrate a self-contained methodology for predicting conductance histograms of atomic and molecular junctions. Fast classical molecular-dynamics simulations are combined with accurate density functional theory calculations predicting both quantum transport properties and molecular-dynamics force field parameters. The methodology is confronted with experiments on atomic-sized indium nanojunctions. Beside conductance histograms the distribution of individual channel transmission eigenvalues is also determined by fitting the superconducting subgap features in the I-V curves. The remarkable agreement in the evolution of the channel transmissions demonstrates that the simulated ruptures are able to reproduce a realistic statistical ensemble of contact configurations, whereas simulations on selected ideal geometries show strong deviations from the experimental observations.

Regular atomic narrowing of Ni, Fe, and V nanowires resolved by two-dimensional correlation analysis

We present a novel statistical method for the study of stable atomic configurations in breaking nanowires based on the 2D cross-correlation analysis of conductance versus electrode separation traces. Applying this method, we can clearly resolve the typical evolutions of the conductance staircase in some transition metal nanojunctions (Ni, Fe, V) up to high conductance values. In these metals our analysis demonstrates a very well ordered atomic narrowing of the nanowire, indicating a very regular, stepwise decrease of the number of atoms in the minimal cross section of the junction, in contrast to the majority of the metals. All these features are hidden in traditional conductance histograms.