Anomalous fractal scaling in two-dimensional electric networks

Abstract

Much of the qualitative nature of physical systems can be predicted from the way it scales with system size. Contrary to the continuum expectation, we observe a profound deviation from logarithmic scaling in the impedance of a two-dimensional LC circuit network. We find this anomalous impedance contribution to sensitively depend on the number of nodes N in a curious erratic manner and experimentally demonstrate its robustness against perturbations from the contact and parasitic impedance of individual components. This impedance anomaly is traced back to a generalized resonance condition reminiscent of Harper’s equation for electronic lattice transport in a magnetic field, even though our circuit network does not involve magnetic translation symmetry. It exhibits an emergent fractal parametric structure of anomalous impedance peaks for different N that cannot be reconciled with a continuum theory and does not correspond to regular waveguide resonant behavior. This anomalous fractal scaling extends to the transport properties of generic systems described by a network Laplacian whenever a resonance frequency scale is simultaneously present.