Simulation of the phononless hopping in a Coulomb glass

TL;DR

This paper uses computer simulations to study phononless hopping conductivity in disordered Coulomb systems, comparing results with analytical models and experimental data to understand photon absorption mechanisms at low temperatures.

Contribution

It provides a detailed simulation analysis of phononless hopping conductivity considering Coulomb interactions, aligning results with theoretical models and experiments.

Findings

Conductivity is dominated by zero-phonon photon absorption at low temperatures.

The simulation results match well with Efros-Shklovskii analytical model.

Parameter ranges are identified where the model reproduces experimental data.

Abstract

The phononless hopping conductivity of a disordered system with localized states is studied in a broad range of frequencies by straightforward computer simulations taking into account Coulomb interactions. At sufficiently low temperatures, the conductivity is determined by the zero-phonon absorption of the photon by pairs of states. The laser frequency dependence of the conductivity is examined and compared with the analytical model of Efros and Shklovskii and with recent experimental data obtained on Si:P. The range of parameters is determined, for which the conductivity dependence on photon energy best reproduces the experimental results.