Dimensional crossover and metal-insulator transition in quasi-two-dimensional disordered conductors

Abstract

We study the metal-insulator transition (MIT) in weakly coupled disordered planes on the basis of a Non-Linear Sigma Model (NL$\sigma$M). Using two different methods, a renormalization group (RG) approach and an auxiliary field method, we calculate the crossover length between a 2D regime at small length scales and a 3D regime at larger length scales. The 3D regime is described by an anisotropic 3D NL$\sigma$M with renormalized coupling constants. We obtain the critical value of the single particle interplane hopping which separates the metallic and insulating phases. We also show that a strong parallel magnetic field favors the localized phase and derive the phase diagram.

16 pages (RevTex), 4 poscript figures

References in corpus (3)

• Localization in Highly Anisotropic Systems
• On a Renormalization Group Approach to Dimensional Crossover
• Ginzburg-Landau theory of phase transitions in quasi-one-dimensional systems

Cited by in corpus (5)

• Anomalous c-axis transport in layered metals
• Boson-assisted tunneling in layered metals
• Delocalization by Disorder in Layered Systems
• Metal-insulator transitions in anisotropic 2d systems
• The probability distribution of the conductance in anisotropic systems