135 research outputs found
Non-saturating magnetoresistance of inhomogeneous conductors: comparison of experiment and simulation
The silver chalcogenides provide a striking example of the benefits of
imperfection. Nanothreads of excess silver cause distortions in the current
flow that yield a linear and non-saturating transverse magnetoresistance (MR).
Associated with the large and positive MR is a negative longitudinal MR. The
longitudinal MR only occurs in the three-dimensional limit and thereby permits
the determination of a characteristic length scale set by the spatial
inhomogeneity. We find that this fundamental inhomogeneity length can be as
large as ten microns. Systematic measurements of the diagonal and off-diagonal
components of the resistivity tensor in various sample geometries show clear
evidence of the distorted current paths posited in theoretical simulations. We
use a random resistor network model to fit the linear MR, and expand it from
two to three dimensions to depict current distortions in the third (thickness)
dimension. When compared directly to experiments on AgSe and
AgTe, in magnetic fields up to 55 T, the model identifies
conductivity fluctuations due to macroscopic inhomogeneities as the underlying
physical mechanism. It also accounts reasonably quantitatively for the various
components of the resistivity tensor observed in the experiments.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figure
Classical magnetotransport of inhomogeneous conductors
We present a model of magnetotransport of inhomogeneous conductors based on
an array of coupled four-terminal elements. We show that this model generically
yields non-saturating magnetoresistance at large fields. We also discuss how
this approach simplifies finite-element analysis of bulk inhomogeneous
semiconductors in complex geometries. We argue that this is an explanation of
the observed non-saturating magnetoresistance in silver chalcogenides and
potentially in other disordered conductors. Our method may be used to design
the magnetoresistive response of a microfabricated array.Comment: 12 pages, 13 figures. Minor typos correcte
Tunneling edges at strong disorder
Scattering between edge states that bound one-dimensional domains of opposite
potential or flux is studied, in the presence of strong potential or flux
disorder. A mobility edge is found as a function of disorder and energy, and we
have characterized the extended phase. "paper_FINAL.tex" 439 lines, 20366
characters In the presence of flux and/or potential disorder, the localization
length scales exponentially with the width of the barrier. We discuss
implications for the random-flux problem.Comment: RevTeX, 4 page
Diffusion and dispersion of passive tracers: Navier-Stokes versus MHD turbulence
A comparison of turbulent diffusion and pair-dispersion in homogeneous,
macroscopically isotropic Navier-Stokes (NS) and nonhelical magnetohydrodynamic
(MHD) turbulence based on high-resolution direct numerical simulations is
presented. Significant differences between MHD and NS systems are observed in
the pair-dispersion properties, in particular a strong reduction of the
separation velocity in MHD turbulence as compared to the NS case. It is shown
that in MHD turbulence the average pair-dispersion is slowed down for
, being
the Kolmogorov time, due to the alignment of the relative Lagrangian tracer
velocity with the local magnetic field. Significant differences in turbulent
single-particle diffusion in NS and MHD turbulence are not detected. The fluid
particle trajectories in the vicinity of the smallest dissipative structures
are found to be characterisically different although these comparably rare
events have a negligible influence on the statistics investigated in this work.Comment: Europhysics Letters, in prin
Recommended from our members
Turbulent equipartitions in two dimensional drift convection
Unlike the thermodynamic equipartition of energy in conservative systems, turbulent equipartitions (TEP) describe strongly non-equilibrium systems such as turbulent plasmas. In turbulent systems, energy is no longer a good invariant, but one can utilize the conservation of other quantities, such as adiabatic invariants, frozen-in magnetic flux, entropy, or combination thereof, in order to derive new, turbulent quasi-equilibria. These TEP equilibria assume various forms, but in general they sustain spatially inhomogeneous distributions of the usual thermodynamic quantities such as density or temperature. This mechanism explains the effects of particle and energy pinch in tokamaks. The analysis of the relaxed states caused by turbulent mixing is based on the existence of Lagrangian invariants (quantities constant along fluid-particle or other orbits). A turbulent equipartition corresponds to the spatially uniform distribution of relevant Lagrangian invariants. The existence of such turbulent equilibria is demonstrated in the simple model of two dimensional electrostatically turbulent plasma in an inhomogeneous magnetic field. The turbulence is prescribed, and the turbulent transport is assumed to be much stronger than the classical collisional transport. The simplicity of the model makes it possible to derive the equations describing the relaxation to the TEP state in several limits
Derivative relation for thermopower in the quantum Hall regime
Recently, Tieke et al (to be published in PRL) have observed the relation
S_{yx} = alpha B dS_{xx}/dB for the components of the thermopower tensor in the
quantum Hall regime, where alpha is a constant and B is the magnetic field.
Simon and Halperin (PRL 73, 3278 (1994)) have suggested that an analogous
relation observed for the resistivity tensor R_{xx} = \alpha B dR_{xy}/dB can
be explained with a model of classical transport in an inhomogeneous medium
where the local Hall resistivity is a function of position and the local
dissipative resistivity is a small constant. In the present paper, we show that
this new thermopower relation can be explained with a similar model.Comment: This paper supercedes cond-mat/9705001 which was withdrawn. 4 pages,
Revte
End to end distance on contour loops of random gaussian surfaces
A self consistent field theory that describes a part of a contour loop of a
random Gaussian surface as a trajectory interacting with itself is constructed.
The exponent \nu characterizing the end to end distance is obtained by a Flory
argument. The result is compared with different previuos derivations and is
found to agree with that of Kondev and Henley over most of the range of the
roughening exponent of the random surface.Comment: 7 page
Phase transition in the collisionless regime for wave-particle interaction
Gibbs statistical mechanics is derived for the Hamiltonian system coupling
self-consistently a wave to N particles. This identifies Landau damping with a
regime where a second order phase transition occurs. For nonequilibrium initial
data with warm particles, a critical initial wave intensity is found: above it,
thermodynamics predicts a finite wave amplitude in the limit of infinite N;
below it, the equilibrium amplitude vanishes. Simulations support these
predictions providing new insight on the long-time nonlinear fate of the wave
due to Landau damping in plasmas.Comment: 12 pages (RevTeX), 2 figures (PostScript
- …