Selected Publications
- R. Volkovich, R. Haertle, M. Thoss and U. Peskin, “Bias-controlled selective excitation of vibrational modes in molecular junctions: a route towards mode-selective chemistry”, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 13, 14333-14349 (2011).
- R. Pozner, E. Lifshitz and U. Peskin, “Charge transport induced recoil and dissociation in double quantum dots”, Nano Lett. 14, 6244–6249 (2014).
- A. D. Levine, M. Iv and U. Peskin, “Length-independent Transport Rates in DNA by Quantum Mechanical Unfurling”, Chem. Sci. 7, 1535-1542 (2016).
- D. Gelbwaser-Klimovsky, A. Aspuru-Guzik, M. Thoss, and U. Peskin, “High voltage assisted mechanical stabilization of single-molecule junctions”, Nano Lett. 18, 8, 4727 (2018).
- R. Haertle, C. Schinabeck, M. Kulkarni, D. Gelbwaser-Klimovsky, M. Thoss and U. Peskin, “Cooling by heating in nonequilibrium nanosystems”, Phys. Rev. B. 98, 081404(R) (2018).
FRIAS Project
Field-induced Mechanical Stabilization of Molecular Electronic Devices
The anticipated realization of molecular electronic devices depends largely on the ability to stabilize mechanically single molecules under strong electric fields and variable charging states. Experimental efforts are devoted to characterization of molecular junction dissociation under resonant tunneling conditions, while theory is challenged to unravel the relevant mechanisms. As a part of this effort, we recently proposed strategies for minimizing the vibrational heating of molecules, based on changing the properties of the electrodes (conducting leads) to which the molecules are attached (chemical composition, chemical surroundings, ambient temperature). However, the associated protocols are still challenging from the experimental point of view. Here we propose to develop a new strategy that does not require a permanent change in the electrodes or in the ambient conditions. Rather, the control of intramolecular vibrational energy would be based on time-dependent changes in the electrodes. The proposed study would include theoretical analysis of intra-molecular vibrational heating and cooling in non-equilibrium conditions in the presence of driven reservoirs, as well as numerical simulations of realistic molecular junction models.