Polaronic transport through molecular quantum dots: charging-induced NDR and rectifying behavior

Abstract

Here we study the polaronic transport through molecules weakly connected to metallic electrodes in the nonlinear response regime. Molecule itself is treated as a quantum dot with discrete energy levels, its connection to the electrodes is described within the wide-band approximation, while the charging is incorporated by means of the self-consistent potential. Nonperturbative computational scheme, used in this work, is based on the Green's function theory within the framework of mapping technique (GFT-MT). This method transforms the many-body electron-phonon interaction problem into a one-body multi-channel single-electron scattering problem with occupation of polaron levels calculated in the self-consistent way. In particular, three different phenomena as a result of charging in polaronic transport via discrete quantum states are discussed in detail: the suppression of the current at higher voltages, negative differential resistance (NDR effect), and rectification.