Electron localization in two-dimensional surface-corrugated conductors: manifestation of competing scattering mechanisms

Abstract

Transport properties of narrow two-dimensional conducting wires in which the electron scattering is caused by side edges' roughness have been studied. The method for calculating dynamic characteristics of such conductors is proposed which is based on the two-scale representation of the mode wave functions at weak scattering. With this method, fundamentally different {\it by-height} and {\it by-slope} scattering mechanisms associated with edge roughness are discriminated. The results for single-mode systems, previously obtained by conventional methods, are proven to correspond to the former mechanism only. Yet the commonly ignored by-slope scattering is more likely dominant. The electron extinction lengths relevant to this scattering differ substantially in functional structure from those pertinent to the by-height scattering. The transmittance of ultra-quantum wires is calculated over all range of scattering parameters, from ballistic to localized transport of quasi-particles. The obtained dependence of scattering lengths on the disorder parameters is valid qualitatively for arbitrary inter-correlation of the boundaries' defects.

17 pages, 1 figure. Submitted to Phys. Rev. B

Cited by in corpus (15)

• Anomalous Localization in Low-Dimensional Systems with Correlated Disorder
• Anomalous transport in low-dimensional systems with correlated disorder
• Conductance and localization in disordered wires: role of evanescent states
• Manifestation of the Roughness-Square-Gradient Scattering in Surface-Corrugated Waveguides
• Gradient and Amplitude Scattering in Surface-Corrugated Waveguides
• The Effect of Random Surface Inhomogeneities on Microresonator Spectral Properties: Theory and Modeling at Millimeter Wave Range
• Spectral properties of cylindrical quasi-optical cavity resonator with random-inhomogeneous side boundary: correlation between dephasing and dissipation
• Ballistic, diffusive, and localized transport in surface-disordered systems: Two-mode waveguide
• The sharpness-induced mode stopping and spectrum rarefication in waveguides with periodically corrugated walls
• Dual nature of localization in guiding systems with randomly corrugated boundaries: Anderson-type versus entropic
• Spectrum of an open disordered quasi-two-dimensional electron system: strong orbital effect of the weak in-plane magnetic field
• The metal-insulator transition in 2D systems at T = 0: one-particle approach
• Reflection resonances in surface-disordered waveguides: strong higher-order effects of the disorder
• Analysis and optimization of a free-electron laser with an irregular waveguide
• he plasmon-polariton scattering by random-impedance surface defects: The interplay between localization and outflow