Unconventional conductance plateau transitions in quantum Hall wires with spatially correlated disorder

TL;DR

This study numerically investigates how spatially correlated disorder affects quantum Hall wires, revealing that such correlations reduce edge state localization length and cause significant shifts in conductance plateau transitions, contrary to naive expectations.

Contribution

It demonstrates that spatial correlations in disorder decrease localization length and cause plateau shifts, providing new insights into quantum Hall transport phenomena.

Findings

Potential correlation reduces edge state localization length.

Conductance plateaus shift to higher energies with correlated disorder.

Shift magnitude is proportional to disorder strength and independent of magnetic field.

Abstract

Quantum transport properties in quantum Hall wires in the presence of spatially correlated random potential are investigated numerically. It is found that the potential correlation reduces the localization length associated with the edge state, in contrast to the naive expectation that the potential correlation increases it. The effect appears as the sizable shift of quantized conductance plateaus in long wires, where the plateau transitions occur at energies much higher than the Landau band centers. The scale of the shift is of the order of the strength of the random potential and is insensitive to the strength of magnetic fields. Experimental implications are also discussed.