Conductance of tubular nanowires with disorder

TL;DR

This paper investigates how disorder affects electrical conductance in tubular nanowires, revealing transitions from localized to metallic states and conductance drops at new channel openings, using scattering matrix and scaling theories.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed analysis of conductance in disordered tubular nanowires using scattering matrix formalism and scaling theory, highlighting conductance behavior at channel openings.

Findings

Conductance increases with energy, showing a transition from localized to metallic regimes.

A significant conductance drop occurs when a new transverse channel opens.

Comparison with semiclassical models shows deviations due to quantum effects.

Abstract

We calculate the conductance of tubular-shaped nanowires having many potential scatterers at random positions. Our approach is based on the scattering matrix formalism and our results analyzed within the scaling theory of disordered conductors. When increasing the energy the conductance for a big enough number of impurities in the tube manifests a systematic evolution from the localized to the metallic regimes. Nevertheless, a conspicuous drop in conductance is predicted whenever a new transverse channel is open. Comparison with the semiclassical calculation leading to purely ohmic behavior is made.