Abstract
The effects of inelastic interactions between current-carrying electrons and vibrationalmodes of a nanoscale junction are a major limiting factor on the stability of such devices. Amethod for dynamical simulation of inelastic electron–ion interactions in nanoscaleconductors is applied to a model system consisting of an adatom bonded to an atomic wire.It is found that the vibrational energy of such a system may decrease under bias, andfurthermore that, as the bias is increased, the rate of cooling, within certain limits, willincrease. This phenomenon can be understood qualitatively through low-orderperturbation theory, and is due to the presence of an anti-resonance in the transmissionfunction of the system at the Fermi level. Such current-assisted cooling may act as astabilization mechanism, and may form the basis for a nanoscale cooling ‘fan’.
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