Conductance of Pd-H nanojunctions -: art. no. 016802

Results of an experimental study of palladium nanojunctions in a hydrogen environment are presented. Two new hydrogen-related atomic configurations are found, which have conductances of similar to0.5 and similar to1 quantum unit (2e(2)/h). Phonon spectrum measurements demonstrate that these configurations are situated between electrodes containing dissolved hydrogen. The crucial differences compared to the previously studied Pt-H-2 junctions and the possible microscopic realizations of the new configurations in palladium-hydrogen atomic-sized contacts are discussed.