Luttinger-liquid behavior in weakly disordered quantum wires

We have measured the temperature dependence of the conductance in long V-groove quantum wires fabricated in GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructures. Our data are consistent with recent theories developed within the framework of the Luttinger-liquid model, in the limit of weakly disordered wires. We show that, for the relatively low level of disorder in our quantum wires, the value of the interaction parameter g congruent with 0.66, which is the expected value for GaAs. However, samples with a higher level of disorder show conductance with stronger temperature dependence, which does not allow their treatment in the framework of perturbation theory. Fitting such data with perturbation-theory models leads inevitably to wrong (lower) values of g.     

Delocalization due to correlations in two-dimensional disordered systems

We study the spectral statistics of interacting spin-less fermions in a two-dimensional disordered lattice. Within a full quantum treatment for small few-particle systems, we compute the low-energy many-body states numerically. While at weak disorder the interactions reduce spectral correlations and lead to localization, for the case of strong disorder we find that a moderate Coulomb interaction has a delocalizing effect. In addition, we observe a non-universal structure in the level-spacing distribution which we attribute to a mechanism reinforcing spectral correlations taking place in small systems at strong disorder.Received: 1 July 2004, Published online: 14 December 2004PACS: 71.27. + a Strongly correlated electron systems; heavy fermions - 73.20.Jc Delocalization processes - 72.15.Rn Localization effects (Anderson or weak localization)     

Delocalization in disordered chains with random symmetrical impurities

We study in this paper, with the context of a tight-binding on-side model, the electronic properties of one-dimensional random lattices with correlated impurities. We show that, when symmetrical impurities are inserted in a host chain of site energy and a constant hopping interaction V, diffusion will occur even when is random. We provide analytic expressions for the transmittance and confirm the theoretical results by a great deal of numerical calculations. When = V, we find that the mean-square displacement (MSD) follows the law m ² ∝t ^β with β = 2.0 for = constant and β = 1.0 for = = random, respectively. Received 15 January 2001 and Received in final form 30 April 2001     

RIR-MAPLE deposition of conjugated polymers for application to optoelectronic devices

Resonant-infrared matrix-assisted pulsed laser evaporation (RIR-MAPLE) is a promising deposition technology for the fabrication of conjugated polymer-based optoelectronic devices for two primary reasons: (i) the ability to control film morphology, and (ii) the ability to deposit multi-layered heterostructures. This article reviews a variation of RIR-MAPLE that uses emulsified targets of organic solvents and water such that the incident laser wavelength (Er:YAG at 2.9 μm) is resonant with hydroxyl (O–H) bonds in the host matrix, which are absent from the guest material. The novelty of the approach lies in the fact that while most polymers of interest and many compatible solvents do not resonantly absorb the laser energy at 2.9 μm, the emulsion with water enables high-quality, thin-film deposition with minimal photochemical and structural degradation for almost any polymer of interest. In addition, the advantages of emulsion-based RIR-MAPLE for conjugated polymer-based optoelectronic devices are demonstrated by two important studies. First, conjugated polymer films deposited by RIR-MAPLE are shown to have higher hole drift mobilities than films deposited using traditional drop-casting and spin-casting techniques. Second, the unique capability of RIR-MAPLE to enable conjugated polymer-based optical heterostructures is demonstrated by the fabrication and characterization of a multi-layer, polymer distributed Bragg reflector.     

Delocalization of excitations in disordered media with dipole transfer

The migration of excitations over a system of impurity centers due to dipole-dipole interactions is studied. A numerical and analytical study of the probability of finding an excitation on the center of its primary localization is carried out for the main models describing the kinetics of spin systems and systems of localized excitons. The results obtained are characterized by a uniformly high accuracy over the entire range of times available for experimental investigations. It is revealed that the preasymptotic effects are in qualitative agreement with theoretical predictions but are quantitatively twice as large as those.     

Conductance distributions in quasi-one-dimensional disordered wires

A detailed analysis of the distribution of conductances P(g) of quasi-one-dimensional disordered wires in the metal-insulator crossover is presented. P(g) obtained from a Monte Carlo solution of the Dorokhov, Mello, Pereyra, and Kumar (DMPK) scaling equation is in full agreement with "tight-binding" numerical calculations of bulk disordered wires. Perturbation theory is shown to be valid even for mean dimensionless conductances of the order of 1. In the crossover regime <, similar 1, P(g) presents a sharp feature at g=1 which is different from that observed in surface disordered wires.     

Delocalization of quasiparticles in quasi-two-dimensional disordered superconductors with s-wave pairing

We investigate localization behavior of quasiparticles in disordered multi-plane superconductors with s-wave pairing. By introducing disorder with random site energies, the spatial fluctuations of Bogoliubov-de Gennes pairing potential are self-consistently determined. The size dependence of rescaled localization length for a long bar is calculated by using the transfer-matrix method. From the finite-size scaling analysis we show that there exists a critical point of the disorder strength W_c which separates the extended and localized quasiparticle states in such quasi-two-dimensional systems. The associated critical behavior is studied and the relationship of the results to the number of planes is discussed.     

Suppression of superconductivity in disordered interacting wires

We study superconductivity suppression due to thermal fluctuations in disordered wires using the replica nonlinear sigma-model (NLsigmaM). We show that in addition to the thermal phase slips there is another type of fluctuations that result in a finite resistivity. These fluctuations are described by saddle points in NLsigmaM and cannot be treated within the Ginzburg-Landau approach. The contribution of such fluctuations to the wire resistivity is evaluated with exponential accuracy. The magnetoresistance associated with this contribution is negative.     

Conductance distribution in quasi-one-dimensional disordered quantum wires

We develop a simple systematic method, valid for all strengths of disorder, to obtain analytically the full distribution of conductances P(g) for a quasi-one-dimensional wire within the model of non-interacting fermions. The method has been used in [Phys. Rev. Lett. 83 (1999) 3013; Ann. Phys. (Leipzig) 8 (1999) 753; Phys. Rev. B 66 (2002) 174204; Europhys. Lett. 61 (2003) 95] to predict sharp features in P(g) near g=1 and the existence of non-analyticity in the conductance distribution in the insulating and crossover regimes, as well as to show how P(g) changes from Gaussian to log-normal behavior as the disorder strength is increased. Here we provide many details of the method, including intermediate results that offer much insight into the nature of the solutions. In addition, we show within the same framework that while for metals P(g) is a Gaussian around 〈g〉?1, there exists a log-normal tail for g?1, consistent with earlier field theory calculations. We also obtain several other results that compare very well with available exact results in the metallic and insulating regimes.     

Intraband discrete breathers in disordered nonlinear systems. I. Delocalization

The existence of Discrete Breathers or DBs (also called Intrinsic Localized Modes or ILMs) and multibreathers, is investigated in a simple one-dimensional chain of random anharmonic oscillators with quartic potentials coupled by springs. When the breather frequency is outside and above the linearized (phonon) spectrum, the existence theorems and numerical methods previously used in periodic nonlinear models for finding time-periodic and spatially localized solutions, hold identically in random nonlinear systems. These solutions are extraband discrete breathers (EDBs). When the frequencies penetrate inside the linearized spectrum, the existence theorems do not hold. Our numerical investigations demonstrate that the strict continuation of (localized) EDBs as intraband discrete breathers (IDBs) is impossible because of cascades of bifurcations generating many discontinuities. A detailed analysis of these bifurcations for small systems with increasing sizes, shows that only a relatively small subset of the spatially extended multibreathers can be strictly continued while their frequency varies inside the phonon spectrum. We propose an ansatz for finding the coding sequences of these solutions and continuing safely these multibreathers in finite systems of any size. This continuation ends at a lower limit frequency where the solution annihilates through a bifurcation with another multibreather. A smaller subset of these multibreather solutions can be continued to amplitude zero and become linear localized modes at this limit. Conversely, any linear localized mode can be continued when increasing its frequency as an extended multibreather. Extrapolation of these results to infinite systems yields the main conclusion of this first part which is that nonlinearity in disordered systems (with localized eigenmodes only) restores their capability of energy transportation by generating infinitely many spatially extended time-periodic solutions. This approach yields mainly spatially extended solutions, except sometimes at their bifurcation points. In the second part of this work, which is presented in our next article, we develop an accurate method for calculating in situ localized IDBs.     

Delocalization transition of two-dimensional disordered systems in a strong magnetic field

The delocalization transition in two-dimensional systems and a strong magnetic field is investigated with respect to its dependence on the Landau band indexj and on the type of disorder. The generation of random potentials according to a given correlation functionf and for a chosen correlation lengthd is described. The spectral properties of random eigenvalue sequences are examined as measures for the extension of wavefunctions and indicate a nonuniversal delocalization behaviour in higher Landau bands for short ranged correlated potentials. The critical exponents of the localization length of wavefunctions are determined for rapidly varying potentials in the second lowest Landau band (j=1) and depend on the correlation lengthd of the disorder. This different critical behaviour compared to that in the lowest band is confirmed by calculations for the density-density correlations of wavefunctions at the centers of the Landau levels. Calculations in different geometries also show that the critical systems of delocalized states are conformal invariant in the case of the nonuniversal delocalization transition (dl ₀), whereas such local rescaling properties cannot be expected for slowly varying potentials.     

Aharonov-Bohm effect in one-channel weakly disordered rings

A new diagrammatic method, which is a reformulation of Berezinskii's technique, is constructed to study the density of electronic states of a one-channel weakly disordered ring, threaded by an external magnetic flux. The exact result obtained for the density of states shows an oscillation of with a period of the flux quantum . As the sample length (or the impurity concentration) is reduced, a transition takes place from the weak localization regime () to the ballistic one (). The analytical expression for the density of states shows the exact dependence of on the ring's circumference and on disorder strength for both regimes. Received 27 December 1999