ELECTRON TRANSPORT AND ELECTRON DENSITY INSIDE ONE-DIMENSIONAL DISORDERED CONDUCTORS: An Analysis of the Electronic-Levels Contribution

TL;DR

This paper investigates electron transport and density in one-dimensional disordered conductors, revealing how low-lying and high-lying electronic levels differ in their penetration and localization due to disorder.

Contribution

It introduces a model for the reduced density matrix and analyzes the distinct behaviors of electronic levels in disordered conductors, supported by comparisons with computer simulations.

Findings

Low-lying levels penetrate less inside the sample.

High-lying levels exhibit localization due to disorder.

LDOS is depleted inside the system for low-energy states.

Abstract

We consider the problem of electron transport along a one-dimensional disordered multiple-scattering conductor, and study the electron density for all the electronic levels. A model is proposed for the reduced density matrix of the system placed between two reservoirs at different chemical potentials, and the statistical-mechanical expectation value of the electron density is evaluated. An ensemble average is computed over disordered configurations. We compare its predictions with computer simulations. We find that the contribution of low-lying levels is very different from that of the high-lying ones studied in the past. Going down in energy, the wave function penetrates ever less inside the sample. For high-lying levels, this is interpreted in terms of localization from disorder. For low-lying levels, this interpretation gradually gives way to an understanding in terms of the increasing reflection produced by each scatterer, which is seen by the electron as a higher and higher -- and hence impenetrable -- potential barrier. Indeed, the local-density-of-states, LDOS, is gradually depleted in the interior of the system, since the wave function is ever smaller inside. The problem studied here is also of interest in electromagnetic, thermal, and acoustic transport in disordered systems.