Conductivity in quasi two-dimensional systems

Abstract

The conductivity in quasi two-dimensional systems is calculated using the quantum kinetic equation. Linearizing the Lenard-Balescu collision integral with the extension to include external field dependences allows one to calculate the conductivity with diagrams beyond the GW approximation including maximally crossed lines. Consequently the weak localization correction as an interference effect appears here from the field dependence of the collision integral (the latter dependence sometimes called intra-collisional field effect). It is shown that this weak localization correction has the same origin as the Debye-Onsager relaxation effect in plasma physics. The approximation is applied to a system of quasi two-dimensional electrons in hetero-junctions which interact with charged and neutral impurities and the low temperature correction to the conductivity is calculated analytically. It turns out that the dynamical screening due to charged impurities leads to a linear temperature dependence, while the scattering from neutral impurities leads to the usual Fermi-liquid behavior. By considering an appropriate mass action law to determine the ratio of charged to neutral impurities we can describe the experimental metal-insulator transition at low temperatures as a Mott-Hubbard transition.

7 pages 7 pages appendix 11 figures

References in corpus (3)

• Sharp increase of the effective mass near the critical density in a metallic 2D electron system
• The normal state scattering rate in high-Tc cuprates
• Formation of three-particle clusters in hetero-junctions and MOSFET structures

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• Effective mass in quasi two-dimensional systems
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• Kinetic theory of spin-polarized systems in electric and magnetic fields with spin-orbit coupling: II. RPA response functions and collective modes
• Dynamical charge and pseudospin currents in graphene and possible Cooper pair formation