Theory Meets Experiment in Low-Dimensional Structures with Correlated Electrons

We calculate charge transport properties of molecular nano-junctions employing a combination of the density-functional theory (DFT) and a transport calculation based on the non-equilibrium Green functions technique, using our effective implementation of the non-equilibrium density matrix calculation. We focus on the effect of the spin-orbit coupling on the transport properties of short metallic nanowires and small organic molecules connected to large metallic leads. The thermodynamic limit of infinite leads is achieved using absorbing boundary conditions. The DFT solver and the transport code run inside a charge self-consistency loop, providing reliable results on the transmission function and magnetic properties.