Light-driven electron transport through a molecular junction based on cross-conjugated systems
Abstract
This work explores light-driven electron transport through cross-conjugated molecules with different numbers of alkenyl groups. In the framework of coherent quantum transport, the analysis uses single-particle Green's functions together with non-Hermitian Floquet theory. With realistic parameters stemming from spectroscopy, the simulations show that measurable current (∼10−11 A) caused by photon-assisted tunneling should be observed in a weak driving field (∼2 × 105 V/cm). Current-field intensity characteristics give one-photon and two-photon field amplitude power laws. The gap between the molecular orbital and the Fermi level of the electrodes is revealed by current-field frequency characteristics. Due to generalized parity symmetry, the cross-conjugated molecules with odd and even numbers of alkenyl groups exhibit completely different current-polarization characteristics, which may provide an advantageous feature in nanoelectronic applications.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Pub Defense Publication
- Publication Date
- Sep 23, 2014
- Source ID
- 10.1063/1.4895963
Entities
People
- Dan Xie
- Herschel A. Rabitz
- Liang-Yan Hsu
Organizations
- Army Research Office
- National Science Foundation
- Princeton University