CONDUCTANCE OF FERROMAGNETIC NANOWIRES

The conductance distribution obtained from an ensemble of stretching f erromagnetic nanowires or point contacts do not exhibit peaks near the integer multiples of 2e(2)/h. This observation has been interpreted a s the absence of conductance quantization. In this report, we examine various features of electron transport through the Ni nanowires and cl arify the behavior of conductance distribution that is different from gold and copper nanowires. Our study concludes that the tunneling thro ugh the closely spaced states near E-F that originate from crystal fie ld and spin split 36 states of Ni prevents the plateaus of conductance from forming in the course of stretch. [S0163-1829(98)07935-1].