Physics – Condensed Matter – Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
Scientific paper
2006-08-17
Phys. Rev. B 74, 245414 (2006)
Physics
Condensed Matter
Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
12 pages, 4 figures
Scientific paper
10.1103/PhysRevB.74.245414
A general linear stability analysis of simple metal nanowires is presented using a continuum approach which correctly accounts for material-specific surface properties and electronic quantum-size effects. The competition between surface tension and electron-shell effects leads to a complex landscape of stable structures as a function of diameter, cross section, and temperature. By considering arbitrary symmetry-breaking deformations, it is shown that the cylinder is the only generically stable structure. Nevertheless, a plethora of structures with broken axial symmetry is found at low conductance values, including wires with quadrupolar, hexapolar and octupolar cross sections. These non-integrable shapes are compared to previous results on elliptical cross sections, and their material-dependent relative stability is discussed.
Bürki J.
Grabert Hermann
Stafford Charles A.
Urban Daniel F.
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