Disorder and the transition to the quantum Hall effect in quasi-one-dimensional channels.

Abstract

The transition to the integral-quantum-Hall-effect regime through the suppression of backscattering is studied theoretically on a model system by calculating the two-terminal conductance of a quasi-one-dimensional quantum wire as a magnetic field is applied in the presence of disorder. The quantum Hall regime is entered when there is negligible overlap between electron edge states localized at opposite sides of the wire. Levitation of the quantized plateaus with increasing disorder is observed. The conductance is calculated from a multichannel Landauer-B\"uttiker formula with transmission matrices determined by a recursive Green's-function technique on a tight-binding lattice.