Electronic Motion in Molecular Circuits: Elastic Scattering and Beyond – Mark Ratner

Date: Thu. November 16th, 2006, 4:15 pm-5:15 pm
Location: Rockefeller 301

Current experimental efforts are clarifying quite beautifully the nature of charge transport in so-called molecular junctions, in which a single molecule provides the channel for current flow between two electrodes. The theoretical modeling of such structures is challenging, because of the uncertainty of geometry, the nonequilibrium nature of the process, and the variety of available mechanisms. The talk will center on the first formulation of the problem in terms of scattering theory, and then on the generalizations needed to make that simple picture relevant to the real experimental situation. These include vibronic coupling, structural disorder and dephasing . Calculations of inelastic tunneling spectra, and how that helps illuminate behaviors, will be stressed. Some ideas of devices based on typical molecular behaviors will be given.