Transmission channels through Na and Al atom wire

First-principles calculations of the transmission channels of single-atom-width Na and Al atom wires bridged between metallic jellium electrodes are presented. For the Na wire, a single channel contributes to the conduction with an almost full quantization value, 2e(2)/h. The conductance is insensitive to the geometrical change since the Fermi energy is located above the onset energy of the channel showing the quantization of conductance. On the other hand, for the Al wire. three channels contribute to the conduction. The Fermi energy is placed just at the onset of the second and the third channels, and the channel transmissions are very sensitive to the geometrical changes of the wires. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.