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Updated: Aug 21, 2026

Resonance Raman Spectroscopy of Extreme Nanowires and Other 1D Systems
Published on: April 28, 2016
Jahn-Teller distortions and the supershell effect in metal nanowires
D F Urban1, J Bürki, C-H Zhang
1Physikalisches Institut, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität, D-79104 Freiburg, Germany.
Abstract:
A stability analysis of metal nanowires shows that a Jahn-Teller deformation breaking cylindrical symmetry can be energetically favorable, leading to stable nanowires with elliptic cross sections. The sequence of stable cylindrical and elliptical nanowires allows for a consistent interpretation of experimental conductance histograms for alkali metals, including both the electronic shell and supershell structures. It is predicted that for gold, elliptical nanowires are even more likely to form since their eccentricity is smaller than for alkali metals. The existence of certain metastable superdeformed nanowires is also predicted.
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