Even-odd effects in the electrical conductance of a three terminals device composed by linear chains: an analytical approach

Abstract

In this work we propose a theoretical study of odd-even effects in charge transport through a linear three terminal chain device. We use the Landauer approach, with the electronic structure treated at tight binding (TB) level and model the self-energy as an energy independent parameter. Moreover, we use decimation techniques to renormalize the system, reducing it into a 3 × 3 matrix, so as to make an analytical treatment. By varying the size of the chain, we alter not only the parity of the full system but also the parity of each possible pathway and show how odd-even effect appears in the transmission function, local density of states and the behavior of the electrical current as function of the parity. Our theoretical approach reveals, in a clear way, how the parity of each branch competes with the parity of the full system to the conductance values near the Fermi level.