The conductive properties of single DNA molecules studied by torsion tunneling atomic force microscopy

The conductive properties of single natural λ-DNA molecules are studied by torsion tunneling atomic force microscopy (TR-TUNA). The currents both parallel to and perpendicular to the DNA chains are investigated, but only weak or even no current signals are detected by TR-TUNA. To improve the conductance of DNA molecules, silver and copper metallized DNAs are fabricated and their conductivities are checked by TR-TUNA. It is found that for both Cu- and Ag-DNAs, the conductivity perpendicular to the DNA chain is enhanced significantly as the metal clusters are attached to the DNA chains. But parallel to the chain the electrical transport is still weak, most probably due to the 'beads-on-a-string' constructions of metallized DNAs.

Discontinuous properties of current-induced magnetic domain wall depinning

The current-induced motion of magnetic domain walls (DWs) confined to nanostructures is of great interest for fundamental studies as well as for technological applications in spintronic devices. Here, we present magnetic images showing the depinning properties of pulse-current-driven domain walls in well-shaped Permalloy nanowires obtained using photoemission electron microscopy combined with x-ray magnetic circular dichroism. In the vicinity of the threshold current density (J_th = 4.2 × 10¹¹ A.m⁻²) for the DW motion, discontinuous DW depinning and motion have been observed as a sequence of “Barkhausen jumps”. A one-dimensional analytical model with a piecewise parabolic pinning potential has been introduced to reproduce the DW hopping between two nearest neighbour sites, which reveals the dynamical nature of the current-driven DW motion in the depinning regime.