Nonequilibrium electronic transport through a polymer chain: Role of solitons

Nonequilibrium electronic transport through a polymer chain is investigated by the scattering state operator method. The polymer chain is described by an electron-lattice coupling model and its two ends are connected with metal electrodes of different chemical potentials. The scattering states are shown to be a set of complete eigenstates of electrons in the system at nonequilibrium steady state. With the method, we show that the nonequilibrium Peierls transition (NEPT) does not survive the lattice relaxation and the soliton-antisoliton pair excitations. Furthermore the electronic transport though the chain is shown to be accomplished through the soliton-lattice energy band.