FORCE AND CONDUCTANCE JUMPS IN ATOMIC-SCALE METALLIC CONTACTS

We have performed dynamic simulations of the pull off of a Au contact at a temperature of 1 K. The conductance and the tensile force on the contact are calculated throughout the pull off. There are prominent ju mps both in the conductance and in the force. The force and conductanc e jumps generally coincide with each other, and correspond to abrupt a tomic rearrangements in the contact. The correlation between the force and conductance jumps and the effective spring constant of the contac t during pull off are in agreement with recent experiments.