Negative differential resistance in phenylene ethynylene oligomers

The origin of the sharp peak profile (i.e., negative differential resistance, NDR) observed in the I/V curves of three-ring phenylene ethynylene oligomers is a topic of major current interest. Here, quantum-chemical calculations are performed to analyze the evolution of the one-electron structure of an unsubstituted three-ring oligomer under the influence of a static electric field (which models the driving voltage applied in the experiments). The results indicate that the rotation of the central ring of the oligomer induces resonant tunneling processes over a limited voltage range. This can thus be responsible for the NDR signature observed experimentally.