Even-Odd Oscillation in Conductance of Single-Row Sodium Nanowire

We present a first-principles calculation of the electronic conduction properties of single-row sodium nanowires suspended between semi-infinite electrodes. The conductance of the nanowire is ~1 G0 (=2e^2/h) and oscillates with a two-atom period as the number of the atoms within the nanowire varies. Moreover, we observed bunches of high electron density with a two atom-lengths in the channel density distribution. The relation between the period of the conductance oscillation and the length of bunches are examined by using simplified models and is found to be largely affected by the characteristics of the infinite wire.