Electronic transport through atomic size constrictions

We study the electronic transport properties of metallic nanocontacts, by means of ab-initio electronic-structure calculations. We use the screened Korringa-Kohn-Rostoker Green's function method to calculate the electronic; structure while the conductance is obtained in the ballistic regime within the Landauer formalism. We present results for Pd constrictions and study the transport through different contact atoms connected to the Pd leads. For sp atoms, the transmission can be easily correlated to the local densities of states which is not the case for transition metal atoms.