Nano-wires with surface disorder: Giant localization lengths and quantum-to-classical crossover

TL;DR

This paper explores how surface disorder in nano-wires affects quantum transport, revealing that magnetic fields can induce giant localization lengths through tunneling between classical phase space regions.

Contribution

It demonstrates the exponential divergence of localization lengths in nano-wires with surface disorder under magnetic fields, linking quantum tunneling to classical phase space structures.

Findings

Localization lengths diverge exponentially with magnetic field strength

Quantum tunneling between regular and chaotic phase space regions explains the effect

Surface disorder impacts quantum transport properties significantly

Abstract

We investigate electronic quantum transport through nano-wires with one-sided surface roughness. A magnetic field perpendicular to the scattering region is shown to lead to exponentially diverging localization lengths in the quantum-to-classical crossover regime. This effect can be quantitatively accounted for by tunneling between the regular and the chaotic components of the underlying mixed classical phase space.