Slow Dynamics of the Electron-Glasses; the Role of Disorder

Abstract

We examine in this work the role of disorder in contributing to the sluggish relaxation observed in intrinsic electron-glasses. Our approach is guided by several empirical observations: First and foremost, Anderson localization is a pre-requisite for observing these nonequilibrium phenomena. Secondly, sluggish relaxation appears to favor Anderson-insulators with relatively large Fermi-energies (hence proportionally large disorder). These observations motivated us to consider a way to measure the underlying disorder in a realistic Anderson insulator. Optical study using a series of amorphous indium-oxide (In_{x}O) establish a simple connection between carrier-concentration and the disorder necessary to approach the metal-insulator transition from the insulating side. This is used to estimate the typical magnitude of the quenched potential-fluctuation in the electron-glass phase of this system. The implications of our findings on the slow dynamics of Anderson-insulators are discussed. In particular, the reason for the absence of a memory-dip and the accompanying electron-glass effects in lightly-doped semiconductors emerges as a natural consequence of their weak disorder.

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References in corpus (15)

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Cited by in corpus (14)

• Memory vs. irreversibility in thermal densification of amorphous glasses
• Structural dynamics in thermal-treatment of amorphous indium-oxide films
• Electron glass effects in amorphous NbSi films
• Microstructure and the Boson-peak in thermally-treated In_{x}O films
• The polaronic effect of a metal layer on variable range hopping
• Interaction induced spatial correlations in a Disordered Glass
• Long-range influence of manipulating disordered-insulators locally
• Relaxation dynamics of the three-dimensional Coulomb Glass model
• The effect of screening on the relaxation dynamics in the Coulomb glass
• Local insulator-to-superconductor transition in amorphous InO${}_x$ films modulated by e-beam irradiation
• On the relation between disorder and homogeneity in an amorphous metal
• Anomalous thermal activation of the electron glass dynamics in a-InOx and granular aluminum
• Relaxation of the Random Site Coulomb glass Model in Two Dimensions
• Onset of nonequilibrium in a driven Anderson insulator