Extraordinary electron propagation length in a metallic double chain supported on a metal surface

Phys Rev Lett. 2009 Apr 24;102(16):166807. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.102.166807. Epub 2009 Apr 24.

Abstract

The present theoretical study shows that a double chain of Cu metal atoms adsorbed on a Cu(111) metal surface can guide an excited electron for distances exceeding 10 nm. The nanostructure appears to be quasi-decoupled from the substrate and thus to act as a nanowire. The origin of the above phenomenon is the interference between the decay of the quasistationary 1D sp-band states localized on each chain. This allows to approach the situation of the formation of bound states in the continuum first discussed in quantum systems by von Neumann and Wigner.