Journal article · Preprint article
Laserlike Vibrational Instability in Rectifying Molecular Conductors
Theoretical Nanoelectronics Group, Theory Section, Department of Micro- and Nanotechnology, Technical University of Denmark1
Theory Section, Department of Micro- and Nanotechnology, Technical University of Denmark2
Department of Micro- and Nanotechnology, Technical University of Denmark3
University of Copenhagen4
We study the damping of molecular vibrations due to electron-hole pair excitations in donor-acceptor (D-A) type molecular rectifiers. At finite voltage additional nonequilibrium electron-hole pair excitations involving both electrodes become possible, and contribute to the stimulated emission and absorption of phonons.
We point out a generic mechanism for D-A molecules, where the stimulated emission can dominate beyond a certain voltage due to the inverted position of the D and A quantum resonances. This leads to current-driven amplification (negative damping) of the phonons similar to laser action. We investigate the effect in realistic molecular rectifier structures using first-principles calculations.
Language: | English |
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Year: | 2011 |
Pages: | 046801 |
ISSN: | 10797114 and 00319007 |
Types: | Journal article and Preprint article |
DOI: | 10.1103/PhysRevLett.107.046801 |
ORCIDs: | 0000-0002-6328-7462 and Brandbyge, Mads |