Scaling theory for anomalous semiclassical quantum transport

Abstract

Quantum transport through devices coupled to electron reservoirs can be described in terms of the full counting statistics (FCS) of charge transfer. Transport observables, such as conductance and shot-noise power are just cumulants of FCS and can be obtained from the sample’s average density of transmission eigenvalues, which in turn can be obtained from a finite element representation of the saddle-point equation of the Keldysh (or supersymmetric) nonlinear sigma model, known as quantum circuit theory. Normal universal metallic behavior in the semiclassical regime is controlled by the presence of a Fabry–Pérot singularity in the average density of transmission eigenvalues. We present general conditions for the suppression of Fabry–Pérot modes in the semiclassical regime in a sample of arbitrary shape, a disordered conductor or a network of ballistic quantum dots, which leads to an anomalous metallic phase. Through a double-scaling limit, we derive a scaling equation for anomalous metallic transport, in the form of a nonlinear differential equation, which generalizes the ballistic-diffusive scaling equation of a normal metal. The two-parameter stationary solution of our scaling equation generalizes Dorokhov’s universal single-parameter distribution of transmission eigenvalues. We provide a simple interpretation of the stationary solution using a thermodynamic analogy with a spin-glass system. As an application, we consider a system formed by a diffusive wire coupled via a barrier to normal-superconductor reservoirs. We observe anomalous reflectionless tunneling, when all perfectly transmitting channels are suppressed, which cannot be explained by the usual mechanism of disorder-induced opening of tunneling channels.