Transport through a small interacting system

We study the effect of nonlinear interaction, and finite coupling, V-0, to the leads on the transmission properties of a finite 1D chain of N atoms. T he two-probe de conductance. G, through a finite interacting chain connecte d to reservoirs is studied both in the T = 0 and T not equal 0 cases. At T = 0 we observe that, for E = 0, perfect transmission occurs for odd values of N while for even N, the transmission reaches its minimum value. This res ults in an even-odd oscillatory behavior which becomes suppressed at higher temperatures. The two-probe conductance is also seen to be drastically red uced when the strength of the nonlinear interaction, U, is of the order of the inter-site coupling.