Universal conductance distributions in the crossover between diffusive and localization regimes

The full distribution of the conductance P(G) in quasi-one-dimensional wires with rough surfaces is analyzed from the diffusive to the localization regime. In the crossover region, where the statistics is dominated by only one or two eigenchannels, the numerically obtained P(G) is found to be independent of the details of the system with the average conductance as the only scaling parameter. For < or =2e(2)/h, the shape of P(G) remarkably agrees with those predicted by random matrix theory for two fluctuating transmission eigenchannels.     

Statistical properties of Lyapunov exponents and of quantum conductance of random systems in the regime of hopping transport

The statistics of the zero-temperature conductance and the Lyapunov exponents of one-, two- and three-dimensional disordered systems in the regime of strong localization is studied numerically. In one dimension, the origin of the universality of the moments of the conductance is explained. The relation between the most probable value of the conductance and its configurational average is discussed. The relative fluctuations of the conductance (and of the resistance) are shown to grow exponentially with the system length. In higher dimensions the conductance is almost entirely determined by the smallest of the Lyapunov exponents. The statistics of the conductance is therefore the same as in the one dimensional case. A model is proposed for the treatment of the fluctuations in hopping transport at finite temperatures. An exponential dependence of the relative fluctuations of the conductance/resistance on the temperature is predicted, log (δg/g) ∞ T^?a with α = 1/(d+1). It is concluded that the presently available experimental data on the temperature dependence of the conductance fluctuations in the hopping regime can be understood by replacing the system size in the zerotemperature result for the fluctuations of the conductance by the hopping length.     

Full counting statistics of phonon transport in disordered systems

The coherent potential approximation (CPA) within full counting statistics (FCS) formalism is shown to be a suitable method to investigate average electric conductance, shot noise as well as higher order cumulants in disordered systems. We develop a similar FCS-CPA formalism for phonon transport through disordered systems. As a byproduct, we derive relations among coefficients of different phonon current cumulants. We apply the FCS-CPA method to investigate phonon transport properties of graphene systems in the presence of disorders. For binary disorders as well as Anderson disorders, we calculate up to the 8-th phonon transmission moments and demonstrate that the numerical results of the FCS-CPA method agree very well with that of the brute force method. The benchmark shows that the FCS-CPA method achieves 20 times more speedup ratio. Collective features of phonon current cumulants are also revealed.     

Statistical scattering theory, the supersymmetry method and universal conductance fluctuations

This paper describes a novel analytical approach to the problem of conductance fluctuations in mesoscopic systems which, in particular, gives account of the influence of the coupling to external leads. We consider the case of a linear disordered sample in the metallic regime, which is coupled to two ideally conducting external leads. Using the many-channel approximation to Landauer's formula, we relate the conductance to the total transmission probability through the sample. The microscopic Hamiltonian of the quasi-one-dimensional disordered sample is formulated in terms of a random matrix, and the elements of the associated scattering matrix which determine the transmission are constructed from statistical scattering theory. We show that in addition to the Thouless energy, E_c, and the mean level spacing, d, there exists in the theory, a third energy scale, Γ, determined by the number of channels in the leads and the strength of the coupling between disordered sample and leads. Related to Γ, is a new length scale, L₀. We find that for sample lengths L >L₀, the properties of the conductance depend only weakly on the coupling to the external leads and, for very large L, become identical with those of quasi-one-dimensional conductors in the weak localization limit. On the other hand, for L < L₀, the coupling to the leads strongly affects the behaviour of both the average and the variance of the conductance. The magnitude of L₀ is typically several magnitudes of ten times the elastic mean free path and thus comparable to the sizes of experimental devices. A further novel aspect of our work is the demonstration that the assumption of GOE statistics for the Hamiltonian is sufficient to yield universal conductance fluctuations.     

Thermal effect in the phase-periodic conductance of disordered mesoscopic N/S structures

We report measurements of the temperature dependence of the amplitude of phase-periodic conductance oscillations in disordered (diffusive) normal metal (Ag) structures attached to a superconducting (Pb) wire at two points. The oscillation amplitude exceeds the value of e ²/h by orders of magnitude and reaches its maximum at a temperature corresponding to the Thouless energy. The results support the recent theory of Nazarov and Stoof, [Phys. Rev. Lett. 76, 823 (1996)], which takes into account the characteristic energy dependence of the change in the diffusion coefficient of quasiparticles in a normal conductor due to Andreev reflections. The line shape of the oscillations as a function of the superconducting phase difference is found to be extremely sensitive to the quality of N/S interfaces and shows hysteretic behavior in interferometers with specially prepared clean interfaces. Pis’ma Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 64, No. 11, 789–793 (10 December 1996) Published in English in the original Russian journal. Edited by Steve Torstveit.     

Effect of phonon scattering by surface roughness on the universal thermal conductance

The effect of phonon scattering by surface roughness on the thermal conductance in mesoscopic systems at low temperatures is calculated using full elasticity theory. The low frequency behavior of the scattering shows novel power law dependences arising from the unusual properties of the elastic modes. This leads to new predictions for the low temperature depression of the thermal conductance below the ideal universal value. Comparison with the data of Schwab et al. [Nature (London) 404, 974 (2000)] suggests that surface roughness on a scale of the width of the thermal pathway is important in the experiment.     

Localization properties of driven disordered one-dimensional systems

We generalize the definition of localization length to disordered systems driven by a time-periodic potential using a Floquet-Green function formalism. We study its dependence on the amplitude and frequency of the driving field in a one-dimensional tight-binding model with different amounts of disorder in the lattice. As compared to the autonomous system, the localization length for the driven system can increase or decrease depending on the frequency of the driving. We investigate the dependence of the localization length with the particle's energy and prove that it is always periodic. Its maximum is not necessarily at the band center as in the non-driven case. We study the adiabatic limit by introducing a phenomenological inelastic scattering rate which limits the delocalizing effect of low-frequency fields.     

Mesoscopic oscillations of the conductance of disordered metallic samples as a function of temperature

We show theoretically and experimentally that the conductance of small disordered samples exhibits random oscillations as a function of temperature. The amplitude of the oscillations decays as a power law of temperature, and their characteristic period is of the order of the temperature itself.     

From chaos to disorder: Statistics of the eigenfunctions of microwave cavities

We study the statistics of the experimental eigenfunctions of chaotic and disordered microwave billiards in terms of the moments of their spatial distributions, such as the inverse participation ratio (IPR) and density-density auto-correlation. A path from chaos to disorder is described in terms of increasing IPR. In the chaotic, ballistic limit, the data correspond well with universal results from random matrix theory. Deviations from universal distributions are observed due to disorder induced localization, and for the weakly disordered case the data are well-described by including finite conductance and mean free path contributions in the framework of nonlinear sigma models of supersymmetry.     

Nature of electron states and magneto-transport in a graphene geometry with a fractal distribution of holes

We investigate theoretically the spin-dependent electron transport in a Rashba quantum wire with rough edges. The charge and spin conductances are calculated as function of the electron energy and wire length by adopting the spin-resolved lattice Green function method. For a single disordered Rashba wire, it is found that the charge conductance quantization is destroyed by the edge disorder. However, a nonzero spin conductance can be generated and its amplitude can be manipulated by varying the wire length, which is attributed to the broken structure symmetries and the spin-dependent quantum interference induced by the rough boundaries. For a large ensemble of disordered Rashba wires, the average charge conductance decreases monotonically, however, the average spin conductance increases to a maximum value and then decreases, with increasing wire length. Further study shows that the influence of the rough edges on the charge and spin conductances can be eliminated by applying a perpendicular magnetic field to the wire. In addition, a very large magnitude of the spin conductance can be achieved when the electron energy lies between the two thresholds of each pair of subbands. These findings may not only benefit to further apprehend the transport properties of the Rashba low-dimensional systems but also provide some theoretical instructions to the application of spintronics devices.     

Quantum conductance in semimetallic bismuth nanocontacts

Electronic transport properties of bismuth nanocontacts are analyzed using a low temperature scanning tunneling microscope. The subquantum steps observed in the conductance versus elongation curves give evidence of atomic rearrangements in the contact. The quantum nature of the conductance reveals itself through peaks in the conductance histograms. The shape of the curves at 77 K is described by a simple gliding mechanism for the contact evolution during elongation. The different behavior at 4 K suggests a transition from light to heavy charge carriers as the contact cross section is decreased.     

Model study on disordered one-dimensional microstructures

Using a finite Kronig-Penney model the localization behavior is studied as a function of disorder and sample size for individual realizations as well as for ensembles. There is a number of effects typical for small disordered systems: e.g. level repulsion is found to be connected with resonant delocalization, and there is a pronounced N-odd/N-even effect in the transmission coefficient. Opposite to the thermodynamic limit the ensemble shows weakest fluctuation in the average transmission coefficient rather than in the average localization length. The 3-dimensional extension of the model which still behaves one-dimensional, demonstrates the importance of spatial correlations in addition to disorder strength.     

基于自洽输运理论的介观体系动态电导的研究

基于介观体系电子动态输运的自洽理论,讨论了介观结构的动态电导.作为该理论的应用,采用一介观相干平行板电容器模型来进行研究. 结果表明:体系的动态电导与外场频率和体系费米能有关,为一复数且有有限虚部. 当外场频率较小时,动态电导随费米能的变化所呈现的特性和直流情形非常相似,但是随着外场频率的增加,两者差异就变得非常明显,体系动态电导随外场频率的变化呈现一些峰值结构. 在给定体系费米能时,动态电导随着外场频率的变化而产生振荡,并且出现了负的电导虚部,电导虚部的正负表明了体系的电容特性和电感特性. 关键词： 自洽输运理论 相干平行板电容器 电导 介观体系     

Phonon thermal conductance of disordered graphene strips with armchair edges

Based on the model of lattice dynamics together with the transfer matrix technique, we investigate the thermal conductances of phonons in quasi-one-dimensional disordered graphene strips with armchair edges using Landauer formalism for thermal transport. It is found that the contributions to thermal conductance from the phonon transport near von Hove singularities is significantly suppressed by the presence of disorder, on the contrary to the effect of disorder on phonon modes in other frequency regions. Besides the magnitude, for different widths of the strips, the thermal conductance also shows different temperature dependence. At low temperatures, the thermal conductance displays quantized features of both pure and disordered graphene strips implying that the transmission of phonon modes at low frequencies are almost unaffected by the disorder.     

Statistical properties of wave transport through surface-disordered waveguides

We review some general statistical properties of wave transport through surface disordered waveguides. These systems are shown to present both striking similarities and differences with respect to quasi-one-dimensional waveguides with volume disorder. The statistical properties are analysed using extensive numerical calculations and random matrix theory results. The transport properties are characterized by the statistical behaviour of different transport coefficients that can be defined for both classical (light, microwaves, sound, etc.) and quantum (electrons) waves. In analogy with bulk-disordered systems, the behaviour of the waveguide conductance/resistance (defined for both classical and quantum waves) as a function of the system length defines three different transport regimes: ballistic, diffusive and localization. However, the coupling between waveguide modes presents significant differences with respect to the coupling induced by volume defects. For any incoming mode, there is a strong preference for the forward propagation through the lowest mode. For narrow waveguides, the statistics of reflection coefficients (reflected speckle pattern) present strong finite-size effects which can be surprisingly well described by random matrix theory. Special attention is paid to the fundamental problem of the transition between different regimes. The long-standing problems of the phase randomization process between ballistic and diffusive regimes and the evolution of the conductance statistical distribution in the transition from diffusion (Gaussian statistics) to localization (log normal statistics) are also discussed.     

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)     

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.     

Statistical properties of wave transport through surface-disordered waveguides

We review some general statistical properties of wave transport through surface disordered waveguides. These systems are shown to present both striking similarities and differences with respect to quasi-one-dimensional waveguides with volume disorder. The statistical properties are analysed using extensive numerical calculations and random matrix theory results. The transport properties are characterized by the statistical behaviour of different transport coefficients that can be defined for both classical (light, microwaves, sound, etc.) and quantum (electrons) waves. In analogy with bulk-disordered systems, the behaviour of the waveguide conductance/resistance (defined for both classical and quantum waves) as a function of the system length defines three different transport regimes: ballistic, diffusive and localization. However, the coupling between waveguide modes presents significant differences with respect to the coupling induced by volume defects. For any incoming mode, there is a strong preference for the forward propagation through the lowest mode. For narrow waveguides, the statistics of reflection coefficients (reflected speckle pattern) present strong finite-size effects which can be surprisingly well described by random matrix theory. Special attention is paid to the fundamental problem of the transition between different regimes. The long-standing problems of the phase randomization process between ballistic and diffusive regimes and the evolution of the conductance statistical distribution in the transition from diffusion (Gaussian statistics) to localization (log normal statistics) are also discussed.     

Adiabatic charge pumping in carbon nanotube quantum dots

We investigate charge pumping in carbon nanotube quantum dots driven by the electric field of a surface acoustic wave. We find that, at small driving amplitudes, the pumped current reverses polarity as the conductance is tuned through a Coulomb blockade peak using a gate electrode. We study the behavior as a function of wave amplitude, frequency, and direction and develop a model in which our results can be understood as resulting from adiabatic charge redistribution between the leads and quantum dots on the nanotube.     

Distribution of the conductance of a linear chain of tunnel barriers with fractal disorder

Distributions of the conductance G of a long quantum wire with the fractal distribution of barriers have been obtained in the successive incoherent tunneling regime. The asymptotic behavior (in the limit L → ∞) of moments 〈G ^k (L)〉, average power of the shot noise 〈S(L)〉, and Fano factor agree with the results of the work [C. W. J. Beenakker et al., Phys. Rev. B 79, 024204 (2009)], and the distributions themselves describe well the Monte Carlo simulation results. The equation that has been obtained for the distributions of the resistance and conductance agrees with the recent fractional differential generalization of the Dorokhov-Mello-Pereyra-Kumar equation for the quasi-one-dimensional multichannel disordered semiconductors with a self-similar distribution of scatterers.