13 research outputs found
Magnetoresistance and dephasing in a two-dimensional electron gas at intermediate conductances
We study, both theoretically and experimentally, the negative
magnetoresistance (MR) of a two-dimensional (2D) electron gas in a weak
transverse magnetic field . The analysis is carried out in a wide range of
zero- conductances (measured in units of ), including the range
of intermediate conductances, . Interpretation of the experimental
results obtained for a 2D electron gas in GaAs/InGaAs/GaAs single
quantum well structures is based on the theory which takes into account terms
of higher orders in , stemming from both the interference contribution and
the mutual effect of weak localization (WL) and Coulomb interaction. We
demonstrate that at intermediate conductances the negative MR is described by
the standard WL "digamma-functions" expression, but with a reduced prefactor
. We also show that at not very high the second-loop corrections
dominate over the contribution of the interaction in the Cooper channel, and
therefore appear to be the main source of the lowering of the prefactor,
. We further analyze the regime of a "weak insulator",
when the zero- conductance is low due to the localization at low
, whereas the Drude conductance is high, In this regime, while the
MR still can be fitted by the digamma-functions formula, the experimentally
obtained value of the dephasing rate has nothing to do with the true one. The
corresponding fitting parameter in the low- limit is determined by the
localization length and may therefore saturate at , even though the
true dephasing rate vanishes.Comment: 36 pages, 16 figure
Acoustoelectric pumping through a ballistic point contact in the presence of magnetic fields
The acoustoelectric current, J, induced in a ballistic point contact (PC) by
a surface acoustic wave is calculated in the presence of a perpendicular
magnetic field, B. It is found that the dependence of the current on the Fermi
energy in the terminals is strongly correlated with that of the PC conductance:
J is small at the conductance plateaus, and is large at the steps. Like the
conductance, the acoustoelectric current has the same functional behavior as in
the absence of the field, but with renormalized energy scales, which depend on
the strength of the magnetic field, | B|.Comment: 7 page
Properties of spin-triplet, even-parity superconductors
The physical consequences of the spin-triplet, even-parity pairing that has
been predicted to exist in disordered two-dimensional electron systems are
considered in detail. We show that the presence of an attractive interaction in
the particle-particle spin-triplet channel leads to an instability of the
normal metal that competes with the localizing effects of the disorder. The
instability is characterized by a diverging length scale, and has all of the
characteristics of a continuous phase transition. The transition and the
properties of the ordered phase are studied in mean-field theory, and by taking
into account Gaussian fluctuations. We find that the ordered phase is indeed a
superconductor with an ordinary Meissner effect and a free energy that is lower
than that of the normal metal. Various technical points that have given rise to
confusion in connection with this and other manifestations of odd-gap
superconductivity are also discussed.Comment: 15 pp., REVTeX, psfig, 2 ps figs, final version as publishe
Unitary limit and quantum interference effect in disordered two-dimensional crystals with nearly half-filled bands
Based on the self-consistent -matrix approximation, the quantum
interference (QI) effect is studied with the diagrammatic technique in
weakly-disordered two-dimensional crystals with nearly half-filled bands. In
addition to the usual 0-mode cooperon and diffuson, there exist -mode
cooperon and diffuson in the unitary limit due to the particle-hole symmetry.
The diffusive -modes are gapped by the deviation from the exactly-nested
Fermi surface. The conductivity diagrams with the gapped -mode cooperon or
diffuson are found to give rise to unconventional features of the QI effect.
Besides the inelastic scattering, the thermal fluctuation is shown to be also
an important dephasing mechanism in the QI processes related with the diffusive
-modes. In the proximity of the nesting case, a power-law
anti-localization effect appears due to the -mode diffuson. For large
deviation from the nested Fermi surface, this anti-localization effect is
suppressed, and the conductivity remains to have the usual logarithmic
weak-localization correction contributed by the 0-mode cooperon. As a result,
the dc conductivity in the unitary limit becomes a non-monotonic function of
the temperature or the sample size, which is quite different from the
prediction of the usual weak-localization theory.Comment: 21 pages, 4 figure
Antiferromagnetism and single-particle properties in the two-dimensional half-filled Hubbard model: a non-linear sigma model approach
We describe a low-temperature approach to the two-dimensional half-filled
Hubbard model which allows us to study both antiferromagnetism and
single-particle properties. This approach ignores amplitude fluctuations of the
antiferromagnetic (AF) order parameter and is valid below a crossover
temperature which marks the onset of AF short-range order. Directional
fluctuations (spin waves) are described by a non-linear sigma model
(NLM) that we derive from the Hubbard model. At zero temperature and
weak coupling, our results are typical of a Slater antiferromagnet. The AF gap
is exponentially small; there are well-defined Bogoliubov quasi-particles
(QP's) (carrying most of the spectral weight) coexisting with a high-energy
incoherent excitation background. As increases, the Slater antiferromagnet
progressively becomes a Mott-Heisenberg antiferromagnet. The Bogoliubov bands
evolve into Mott-Hubbard bands separated by a large AF gap. A significant
fraction of spectral weight is transferred from the Bogoliubov QP's to
incoherent excitations. At finite temperature, there is a metal-insulator
transition between a pseudogap phase at weak coupling and a Mott-Hubbard
insulator at strong coupling. Finally, we point out that our results
straightforwardly translate to the half-filled attractive Hubbard model, where
the charge and pairing fluctuations combine to
form an order parameter with SO(3) symmetry.Comment: Revtex4, 19 pages, 14 figures; (v2) final version as publishe
Microscopic versus mesoscopic local density of states in one-dimensional localization.
We calculate the probability distribution of the local density of states ν in a disordered one-dimensional conductor or single-mode waveguide, attached at one end to an electron or photon reservoir. We show that this distribution does not display a log-normal tail for small ν, but diverges instead �ν-1/2. The log-normal tail appears if ν is averaged over rapid oscillations on the scale of the wavelength. There is no such qualitative distinction between microscopic and mesoscopic densities of states if the levels are broadened by inelastic scattering or absorption, rather than by coupling to a reservoi
Superinsulator as a phase of bi-particle localized states
7 pages, 9 figuresInternational audienceWe propose a physical picture of superinsulator observed recently in experiments with superconducting films in a magnetic field. On the basis of previous numerical studies we argue that a moderate attraction creates bi-particle localized states at intermediate disorder strength when noninteracting electron states are delocalized and metallic. Our present numerical study show that such localized pairs are broken by a static electric field which strength is above a certain threshold. We argue that such a breaking of localized pairs by a static field is at the origin of superinsulator breaking with a current jump observed experimentally above a certain critical voltage