Transport in a disordered tight-binding chain with dephasing

We studied transport properties of a disordered tight-binding model (XX spin chain) in the presence of dephasing. Focusing on diffusive behaviour in the thermodynamic limit at high energies, we analytically derived the dependence of conductivity on dephasing and disorder strengths. As a function of dephasing, conductivity exhibits a single maximum at the optimal dephasing strength. The scaling of the position of this maximum with disorder strength is different for small and large disorders. In addition, we studied periodic disorder for which we found a resonance phenomenon, with conductivity having two maxima as a function of dephasing strength. If the disorder is non-zero only at a random fraction of all sites, conductivity is approximately the same as in the case of a disorder on all sites but with a rescaled disorder strength.     

一维二元非对角关联无序体系跳跃电导特性

在单电子紧束缚无序模型基础上，建立了一维二元关联无序体系电子跳跃输运直流电导模型，并推导了其直流电导公式，通过计算其直流电导率，探讨了格点能量无序度、非对角关联及温度、外场对体系跳跃电导的影响.计算结果表明，一维二元无序体系的直流电导率随着格点能量无序度的增大而减小；当引入非对角关联时，体系出现退局域化现象，从而使体系的直流电导率增大；温度对体系的电子输运的影响表现为体系的直流电导率随温度的升高而增大；在外加电场的调制下，体系的直流电导率在强场区随电场强度增加而增长很快，呈现出非欧姆定律特性，但在弱场区外场的作用不明显. 关键词： 二元无序体系 跳跃电导 格点能量无序度 非对角关联     

Direct current hopping conductance in one-dimensional diagonal disordered systems

Based on a tight-binding disordered model describing a single electron band, we establish a direct current (dc) electronic hopping transport conductance model of one-dimensional diagonal disordered systems, and also derive a dc conductance formula. By calculating the dc conductivity, the relationships between electric field and conductivity and between temperature and conductivity are analysed, and the role played by the degree of disorder in electronic transport is studied. The results indicate the conductivity of systems decreasing with the increase of the degree of disorder, characteristics of negative differential dependence of resistance on temperature at low temperatures in diagonal disordered systems, and the conductivity of systems decreasing with the increase of electric field, featuring the non-Ohm's law conductivity.     

Particle-hole symmetry and the effect of disorder on the Mott-Hubbard insulator

The understanding of the interplay of electron correlations and randomness in solids is enhanced by demonstrating that particle-hole ( p-h) symmetry plays a crucial role in determining the effects of disorder on the transport and thermodynamic properties of the half-filled Hubbard Hamiltonian. We show that the low-temperature conductivity decreases with increasing disorder when p-h symmetry is preserved, and shows the opposite behavior, i.e., conductivity increases with increasing disorder, when p-h symmetry is broken. The Mott insulating gap is insensitive to weak disorder when there is p-h symmetry, whereas in its absence the gap diminishes with increasing disorder.     

一维二元非对角关联无序体系交流跳跃电导特性

在单电子紧束缚无序模型基础上，建立了一维二元非对角关联无序体系电子跳跃输运交流电导模型，并推导了其交流电导公式，通过计算其交流电导率，探讨了格点能量无序度、格点原子组分、非对角关联及温度、外场对体系交流跳跃电导的影响.计算结果表明，一维二元非对角关联无序体系的交流电导率随格点能量无序度的增大而减小.同时，体系中两种原子的组分的变化实际代表着体系成分无序程度的变化，因而对其交流电导率的影响很大，表现为随A类原子含量p的增加而先减小后增大.当引入非对角关联时，体系出现退局域化现象，电子波函数由局 关键词： 二元无序体系 交流跳跃电导 格点能量无序度 非对角关联     

Suppression of magnetotransport in strongly disordered graphene

A tight-binding model with randomly fluctuating atomic positions is studied to discuss the effect of strong disorder in graphene. We employ a strong-disorder expansion for the transport quantities and find a diffusive behavior, where the conductivity is decreasing with increasing disorder. For sufficiently strong disorder the magnetic field drops out of the diffusion coefficient and the conductivity. This signals a strong suppression of magnetotransport effects, a result which is consistent with recent experimental observations by Morozov et al.     

Coulomb interaction, ripples, and the minimal conductivity of graphene

We argue that the unscreened Coulomb interaction in graphene provides a positive, universal, and logarithmic correction to scaling of zero-temperature conductivity with frequency. The combined effect of the disorder due to wrinkling of the graphene sheet and the long-range electron-electron interactions is a finite positive contribution to the dc conductivity. This contribution is disorder strength dependent and thus nonuniversal. The low-energy behavior of such a system is governed by the line of fixed points at which both the interaction and disorder are finite, and the density of states is exactly linear. An estimate of the typical random vector potential representing ripples in graphene brings the theoretical value of the minimal conductivity into the vicinity of 4e2/h.     

Electrical conductivity for Lloyd's disorder model in one dimension

We consider the electrical dc-conductivity for Lloyd's disorder model in one dimension. First we calculate the conductivity within the CPA and the MCPA theory of electronic transport. For all values of the disorder parameter γ, which is the fluctuation width of random site energies, the MCPA leads to a substantial reduction of the conductivity as compared with the CPA-treatment. Secondly we investigate the case of large disorder, γ → ∞, by an asymptotic expansion. It is found that the conductivity vanishes order by order in an expansion in γ^?1 which strongly suggests that it vanishes identically for all γ.     

DNA分子链的电子局域性质及电导的研究

将一维随机二元固体模型应用于DNA分子链，利用传输矩阵方法来研究系统电子态的局域性质并进而讨论系统的导电性质.对一个链长为50000个碱基对的DNA序列，数值分析了局域长度和电导随碱基对的摩尔百分数、本征能量和无序度的变化关系.结果表明，系统的局域长度和电导强烈地依赖于能量，在能带中心部分局域长度大于边沿部分.无序度也在一定程度上影响着局域长度，双方成反向变化的关系.对有限长度的DNA分子链，局域长度体现出明显的对碱基对摩尔百分数的依赖关系，对正常成分比例的随机DNA序列，在所有能量范围内系统的态都是局域的，系统的电导很小，系统呈现绝缘体行为.仅当一种碱基对在序列中所占比例很小时，系统中可以发现与特定分立能量值相对应的“扩展态”存在，处在这些态下的系统有较大的电导，但这些扩展态是不稳定的，在热力学极限之下会消失. 关键词： DNA分子链 电子局域 局域长度 电导     

Effects of bulk charged impurities on the bulk and surface transport in three-dimensional topological insulators

In the three-dimensional topological insulator (TI), the physics of doped semiconductors exists literally side-by-side with the physics of ultrarelativistic Dirac fermions. This unusual pairing creates a novel playground for studying the interplay between disorder and electronic transport. In this mini-review, we focus on the disorder caused by the three-dimensionally distributed charged impurities that are ubiquitous in TIs, and we outline the effects it has on both the bulk and surface transport in TIs. We present self-consistent theories for Coulomb screening both in the bulk and at the surface, discuss the magnitude of the disorder potential in each case, and present results for the conductivity. In the bulk, where the band gap leads to thermally activated transport, we show how disorder leads to a smaller-than-expected activation energy that gives way to variable-range hopping at low temperatures. We confirm this enhanced conductivity with numerical simulations that also allow us to explore different degrees of impurity compensation. For the surface, where the TI has gapless Dirac modes, we present a theory of disorder and screening of deep impurities, and we calculate the corresponding zero-temperature conductivity. We also comment on the growth of the disorder potential in passing from the surface of the TI into the bulk. Finally, we discuss how the presence of a gap at the Dirac point, introduced by some source of time-reversal symmetry breaking, affects the disorder potential at the surface and the mid-gap density of states.     

准一维多链无序体系跳跃电导特性

在单电子紧束缚近似下,建立了准一维多链无序体系直流、交流电子跳跃输运模型,通过计算探讨了无序模式、维度效应、温度及外场对其直流、交流电导率的影响.计算结果表明:准一维多链无序体系的直流、交流电导率随着格点能量无序度的增大而减小,非对角无序具有增强体系电子输运能力的作用.随着链数的增加,体系的直流、交流电导率增大,但格点能量无序度较小时,维度效应的影响不明显.在对角无序情况下准一维多链无序体系的交流电导率随温度的升高而增大,而在非对角无序模式下却随温度的升高而减小,但对于直流情况,体系的直流电导率随温度的升     

Phonon transport in isotope-disordered carbon and boron-nitride nanotubes: is localization observable?

We present an ab initio study which identifies dominant effects leading to thermal conductivity reductions in carbon and boron-nitride nanotubes with isotope disorder. Our analysis reveals that, contrary to previous speculations, localization effects cannot be observed in the thermal conductivity measurements. Observable reduction of the thermal conductivity is mostly due to diffusive scattering. Multiple scattering induced interference effects were found to be prominent for isotope concentrations > or approximately 10%; otherwise, the thermal conduction is mainly determined by independent scattering contributions of single isotopes. We give explicit predictions of the effect of isotope disorder on nanotube thermal conductivity that can be directly compared with experiments.     

Vertex corrections to the anomalous Hall effect in spin-polarized two-dimensional electron gases with a Rashba spin-orbit interaction

We study the effect of disorder on the intrinsic anomalous Hall conductivity in a magnetic two-dimensional electron gas with a Rashba-type spin-orbit interaction. We find that anomalous Hall conductivity vanishes unless the lifetime is spin-dependent, similar to the spin Hall conductivity in the nonmagnetic system. In addition, we find that the spin Hall conductivity does not vanish in the presence of magnetic scatterers.     

Theory of 2D transport in graphene for correlated disorder

We theoretically revisit graphene transport properties as a function of carrier density, taking into account possible correlations in the spatial distribution of the Coulomb impurity disorder in the environment. We find that the charged impurity correlations give rise to a density-dependent graphene conductivity, which agrees well qualitatively with the existing experimental data. We also find, quite unexpectedly, that the conductivity could increase with increasing impurity density if there is sufficient interimpurity correlation present in the system. In particular, the linearity (sublinearity) of graphene conductivity at lower (higher) gate voltage is naturally explained as arising solely from impurity correlation effects in the Coulomb disorder.     

双层石墨烯材料中无序导致超导-绝缘体相变的数值研究

本文利用一种新的数值方法研究了在较大的双层石墨烯样品中杂质的无序 效应对超导态特性的影响. 采用核多项式方法 (Kernel Polynomial Method) 来自洽求解双层石墨烯系统的Bogoliubov-de-Gennes (BdG) 方程, 从而得到了由无序效应所引起的超导序参量的空间涨落精确解. 进一步, 计算了系统处于超导态时的态密度、光电导和广义逆参与率 (inverse participation ratio) 等物理量, 并发现随着无序强度的不断增大态密度中的能隙被 完全抑制, 同时光电导的Drude权重也迅速减小并最终降为零, 这表明双层石墨烯中的低能电子态发生了安德森局域化, 系统因而发生了由无序效应诱导的超导-绝缘体相变. 关键词： 双层石墨烯 安德森局域化 超导-绝缘体相变 核多项式方法     

Electronic properties of graphene multilayers

We study the effects of disorder in the electronic properties of graphene multilayers, with special focus on the bilayer and the infinite stack. At low energies and long wavelengths, the electronic self-energies and density of states exhibit behavior with divergences near half filling. As a consequence, the spectral functions and the conductivities acquire anomalous properties. In particular, we show that the quasiparticle decay rate has a minimum as a function of energy, there is a universal minimum value for the in-plane conductivity of order e(2)/h per plane and, unexpectedly, the c-axis conductivity is enhanced by disorder at low doping, leading to an enormous conductivity anisotropy at low temperatures.     

Conductivity of disordered 2d binodal Dirac electron gas: effect of internode scattering

We study the dc conductivity of a weakly disordered 2d Dirac electron gas with two bands and two spectral nodes, employing a field theoretical version of the Kubo–Greenwood conductivity formula. In this paper, we are concerned with the question how the internode scattering affects the conductivity. We use and compare two established techniques for treating the disorder scattering: The perturbation theory, there ladder and maximally crossed diagrams are summed up, and the functional integral approach. Both turn out to be entirely equivalent. For a large number of random potential configurations we have found only two different conductivity scenarios. Both scenarios appear independently of whether the disorder does or does not create the internode scattering. In particular, we do not confirm the conjecture that the internode scattering tends to Anderson localisation.     

Normal phonon-phonon scattering processes and the thermal conductivity of germanium crystals with isotope disorder

The influence of the normal phonon-phonon scattering processes on the thermal conductivity was theoretically studied for germanium crystals with various degrees of the isotope disorder. The theory takes into account redistribution of the phonon momentum in the normal scattering processes both inside each oscillation branch (Simons mechanism) and between various phonon oscillation branches (Herring mechanism). Contributions to the thermal conductivity due to the drift mobility of the longitudinal and transverse phonons are analyzed. It is shown that the momentum redistribution between longitudinal and transverse phonons according to the Herring relaxation mechanism leads to a significant suppression of the drift motions (and to the corresponding drop in contribution to the thermal conductivity) of the longitudinal phonons in isotopically pure germanium crystals. The results of the thermal conductivity calculations involving the Herring relaxation mechanism agree well with the experimental data available for germanium crystals with various degrees of the isotope disorder.     

Conductivity of disordered graphene at half filling

We study electron transport properties of a monoatomic graphite layer (graphene) with different types of disorder at half filling. We show that the transport properties of the system depend strongly on the symmetry of disorder. We find that the localization is ineffective if the randomness preserves one of the chiral symmetries of the clean Hamiltonian or does not mix valleys. We obtain the exact value of minimal conductivity 4e²/πh in the case of chiral disorder. For long-range disorder (decoupled valleys), we derive the effective field theory. In the case of smooth random potential, it is a symplectic-class sigma-model including a topological term with θ=π. As a consequence, the system is at a quantum critical point with a universal value of the conductivity of the order of e²/h. When the effective time reversal symmetry is broken, the symmetry class becomes unitary, and the conductivity acquires the value characteristic for the quantum Hall transition.     

Thermal conductivity of liquid 3He in aerogel: a gapless superfluid

We have measured the thermal conductivity of liquid 3He in 98% aerogel at ultralow temperatures. Aerogel introduces disorder on a scale comparable to the superfluid coherence length. At low pressures the liquid in the aerogel shows normal-state behavior with conductivity linear in temperature. At pressures above approximately 6 bars the onset of superfluidity suppresses the conductivity and the thermal conductivity again tends towards linear behavior in the very low temperature limit, providing strong evidence that here the liquid 3He in the aerogel is behaving as a gapless superfluid.