Mesoscopic Conductance Fluctuations Research Articles

Mesoscopic Conductance Fluctuations in 2D HgTe Semimetal.

Mesoscopic conductance fluctuations were discovered in a weak localization regime of a strongly disordered two-dimensional HgTe-based semimetal. These fluctuations exist in macroscopic samples with characteristic sizes of 100 μm and exhibit anomalous dependences on the gate voltage, magnetic field, and temperature. They are absent in the regime of electron metal (at positive gate voltages) and strongly depend on the level of disorder in the system. All the experimental facts lead us to the conclusion that the origin of the fluctuations is a special collective state in which the current is conducted through the percolation network of electron resistances. We suppose that the network is formed by fluctuation potential whose amplitude is higher than the Fermi level of electrons due to their very low density.

Remote Mesoscopic Signatures of Induced Magnetic Texture in Graphene.

Mesoscopic conductance fluctuations are a ubiquitous signature of phase-coherent transport in small conductors, exhibiting universal character independent of system details. In this Letter, however, we demonstrate a pronounced breakdown of this universality, due to the interplay of local and remote phenomena in transport. Our experiments are performed in a graphene-based interaction-detection geometry, in which an artificial magnetic texture is induced in the graphene layer by covering a portion of it with a micromagnet. When probing conduction at some distance from this region, the strong influence of remote factors is manifested through the appearance of giant conductance fluctuations, with amplitude much larger than e^{2}/h. This violation of one of the fundamental tenets of mesoscopic physics dramatically demonstrates how local considerations can be overwhelmed by remote signatures in phase-coherent conductors.

Mesoscopic conductance fluctuations and noise in disordered Majorana wires

Superconducting wires with broken time-reversal and spin-rotational symmetries can exhibit two distinct topological gapped phases and host bound Majorana states at the phase boundaries. When the wire is tuned to the transition between these two phases and the gap is closed, Majorana states become delocalized leading to a peculiar critical state of the system. We study transport properties of this critical state as a function of the length $L$ of a disordered multichannel wire. Applying a non-linear supersymmetric sigma model of symmetry class D with two replicas, we identify the average conductance, its variance and the third cumulant in the whole range of $L$ from the Ohmic limit of short wires to the regime of a broad conductance distribution when $L$ exceeds the correlation length of the system. In addition, we calculate the average shot noise power and variance of the topological index for arbitrary $L$. The general approach developed in the paper can also be applied to study combined effects of disorder and topology in wires of other symmetries.

Universal conductance fluctuations and direct observation of crossover of symmetry classes in topological insulators

A key feature of topological insulators (TI) is symplectic symmetry of the Hamiltonian which changes to unitary when time reversal symmetry is lifted and the topological phase transition occurs. However, such a crossover has never been explicitly observed, by directly probing the symmetry class of the Hamiltonian. In this report, we have probed the symmetry class of topological insulators by measuring the mesoscopic conductance fluctuations in the TI Bi$_{1.6}$Sb$_{0:4}$Te$_2$Se, which shows an exact factor of two reduction on application of a magnetic field due to crossover from symplectic to unitary symmetry classes. The reduction provides an unambiguous proof that the fluctuations arise from the universal conductance fluctuations (UCF), due to quantum interference and persists from T = 22 mK to 4.2 K. We have also compared the phase breaking length (l$_\phi$) extracted from both magneto-conductivity and UCF which agree well within a factor of two in the entire temperature and gate voltage range. Our experiment confirms UCF as the major source of fluctuations in mesoscopic disordered topological insulators, and the intrinsic preservation of time reversal symmetry in these systems.

Crossover in mesoscopic conductance fluctuations in a quasi-one-dimensional system

We study the conductance fluctuations in the crossover between the ballistic and diffusive regimes of phase coherent transport. For a quasi-1D disordered system, the correlation function of the conductance at different frequencies is calculated beyond the diffusion approximation. The result obtained establishes the interrelation between conductance fluctuations in the crossover regime and the characteristics of the disordered system. The frequency dependence of different contributions to the correlation function is analyzed at subdiffusion length scales.

Nonequilibrium mesoscopic conductance fluctuations as the origin of 1/f noise in epitaxial graphene

We investigate the 1/f noise properties of epitaxial graphene devices at low temperatures as a function of temperature, current and magnetic flux density. At low currents, an exponential decay of the 1/f noise power spectral density with increasing temperature is observed that indicates mesoscopic conductance fluctuations as the origin of 1/f noise at temperatures below 50 K. At higher currents, deviations from the typical quadratic current dependence and the exponential temperature dependence occur as a result of nonequilibrium conditions due to current heating. By applying the theory of Kubakaddi [S. S. Kubakaddi, Phys. Rev. B 79, 075417 (2009)], a model describing the 1/f noise power spectral density of nonequilibrium mesoscopic conductance fluctuations in epitaxial graphene is developed and used to determine the energy loss rate per carrier. In the regime of Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations a strong increase of 1/f noise is observed, which we attribute to an additional conductance fluctuation mechanism due to localized states in quantizing magnetic fields. When the device enters the regime of quantized Hall resistance, the 1/f noise vanishes. It reappears if the current is increased and the quantum Hall breakdown sets in.

Universal Conductance Fluctuation in Two-Dimensional Topological Insulators.

Despite considerable interest in two-dimensional (2D) topological insulators (TIs), a fundamental question still remains open how mesoscopic conductance fluctuations in 2D TIs are affected by spin-orbit interaction (SOI). Here, we investigate the effect of SOI on the universal conductance fluctuation (UCF) in disordered 2D TIs. Although 2D TI exhibits UCF like any metallic systems, the amplitude of these fluctuations is distinguished from that of conventional spin-orbit coupled 2D materials. Especially, in 2D systems with mirror symmetry, spin-flip scattering is forbidden even in the presence of strong intrinsic SOI, hence increasing the amplitude of the UCF by a factor of compared with extrinsic SOI that breaks mirror symmetry. We propose an easy way to experimentally observe the existence of such spin-flip scattering in 2D materials. Our findings provide a key to understanding the emergence of a new universal behavior in 2D TIs.

Angle-dependent transmission in graphene heterojunctions

We describe an experimental setup for measuring angle-dependent transmission due to Klein tunneling through quasi-ballistic graphene heterojunctions. Our devices consist of straight and angled leads, in which the barrier height is controlled by a shared gate electrode. Using a balancing technique and a differential measurement, we show how to isolate the angle-dependent contribution to the resistance from other angle-insensitive, gate-dependent, and device-dependent effects. We find that our baseline signal is dominated by mesoscopic conductance fluctuations, but that the increase in the fluctuation amplitude is due to angle-dependent transmission.

Multiple Virtual Tunneling of Dirac Fermions in Granular Graphene

Graphene charge carriers behave as massless Dirac fermions, opening the exciting possibility to observe long-range virtual tunneling of electrons in a solid. In granular metals, electron hops arising from series of virtual transitions are predicted to yield observable currents at low-enough temperatures, but to date experimental evidence is lacking. We report on electron transport in granular graphene films self-assembled by hydrogenation of suspended graphene. While the log-conductance shows a characteristic T−1/2 temperature dependence, cooling the samples below 10 K drives a triple crossover: a slope break in log-conductance, simultaneous to a substantial increase in magneto-conductance and onset of large mesoscopic conductance fluctuations. These phenomena are signatures of virtual transitions of electrons between distant localized states, and conductance statistics reveal that the high crossover-temperature is due to the Dirac nature of granular graphene charge carriers.

Mesoscopic conductance fluctuations in multi-layer graphene

Multi-layer graphene has many unique properties for realizing graphene-based nano-electronic device applications as well as for fundamental studies. This paper mainly focuses on the conductance fluctuations in multi-layer graphene. The low-temperature saturation of dephasing time in multi-layer graphene is one order magnitude shorter than that in single-layer graphene, and the onset temperature of the low-temperature saturation of dephasing time in multi-layer graphene was significantly lower than that in single-layer graphene, which is noteworthy in the low-temperature saturation of dephasing time. We speculate that the carrier transport is shielded by capping transport and bottom layer graphene due to the substrate impurities and air molecules scattering.

Mesoscopic fluctuations of conductance of a helical edge contaminated by magnetic impurities.

Elastic backscattering of electrons moving along the helical edge is prohibited by time-reversal symmetry. We demonstrate, however, that an ensemble of magnetic impurities may cause time-reversal symmetry-preserving quasielastic backscattering, resulting in interference effects in the conductance. The characteristic energy transferred in a backscattering event is suppressed due to the Ruderman-Kittel-Kasuya-Yosida interaction of localized spins (the suppression is exponential in the total number of magnetic impurities). We predict the statistics of conductance fluctuations to differ from those in the conventional case of a one-dimensional system with quenched disorder.

Direct Observation of Valley Hybridization and Universal Symmetry of Graphene with Mesoscopic Conductance Fluctuations

In graphene, the valleys represent spinlike quantities and can act as a physical resource in valley-based electronics to produce novel quantum computation schemes. Here we demonstrate a direct route to tune and read the valley quantum states of disordered graphene by measuring the mesoscopic conductance fluctuations. We show that the conductance fluctuations in graphene at low temperatures are reduced by a factor of 4 when valley triplet states are gapped in the presence of short-range potential scatterers at high carrier densities. We also show that this implies a gate tunable universal symmetry class that outlines a fundamental feature arising from graphene's unique crystal structure.

Andreev reflection from a topological superconductor with chiral symmetry

It was pointed out by Tewari and Sau that chiral symmetry (H -> -H if e <-> h) of the Hamiltonian of electron-hole (e-h) excitations in an N-mode superconducting wire is associated with a topological quantum number Q\in\mathbb{Z} (symmetry class BDI). Here we show that Q=Tr(r_{he}) equals the trace of the matrix of Andreev reflection amplitudes, providing a link with the electrical conductance G. We derive G=(2e^2/h)|Q| for |Q|=N,N-1, and more generally provide a Q-dependent upper and lower bound on G. We calculate the probability distribution P(G) for chaotic scattering, in the circular ensemble of random-matrix theory, to obtain the Q-dependence of weak localization and mesoscopic conductance fluctuations. We investigate the effects of chiral symmetry breaking by spin-orbit coupling of the transverse momentum (causing a class BDI-to-D crossover), in a model of a disordered semiconductor nanowire with induced superconductivity. For wire widths less than the spin-orbit coupling length, the conductance as a function of chemical potential can show a sequence of 2e^2/h steps - insensitive to disorder.

Robust mesoscopic fluctuations in disordered graphene

The temperature dependence of the mesoscopic conductance fluctuations is investigated for disordered graphene. The fluctuations are generated by varying either magnetic field or carrier density (via a back-gate). Very different temperature cut-offs are found for these two types of fluctuations, with the density-induced features persisting to much higher temperatures (beyond 100 K, even) than those observed when sweeping magnetic field. The robust character of the density-dependent fluctuations may cause them to play an important role in determining the operation of future graphene nanodevices, particularly as device sizes are reduced to the nanoscale.

Mesoscopic fluctuations of the resonant tunneling conductance in a disordered S-I-S junction in magnetic field

The conditions for the smallness of mesoscopic fluctuations of resonant tunneling conductance are obtained for a small S-I-S-junction with weak structural disorder in the I layer in a magnetic field parallel to its plane at temperature T= 0.

Electron transport in gated InGaAs and InAsP quantum well wires in selectively grown InP ridge structures

The purpose of this work is to fabricate ribbon-like InGaAs and InAsP wires embedded in InP ridge structures and investigate their transport properties. The InP ridge structures that contain the wires are selectively grown by chemical beam epitaxy (CBE) on pre-patterned InP substrates. To optimize the growth and micro-fabrication processes for electronic transport, we explore the Ohmic contact resistance, the electron density, and the mobility as a function of the wire width using standard transport and Shubnikov–de Haas measurements. At low temperatures the ridge structures reveal reproducible mesoscopic conductance fluctuations. We also fabricate ridge structures with submicron gate electrodes that exhibit non-leaky gating and good pinch-off characteristics acceptable for device operation. Using such wrap gate electrodes, we demonstrate that the wires can be split to form quantum dots evidenced by Coulomb blockade oscillations in transport measurements.

Mesoscopic conductance fluctuations in InAs nanowire-based SNS junctions

We report a systematic experimental study of mesoscopic conductance fluctuations in superconductor/normal/superconductor (SNS) devices Nb/InAs-nanowire/Nb. These fluctuations far exceed their value in the normal state and strongly depend on temperature even in the low-temperature regime. This dependence is attributed to high sensitivity of perfectly conducting channels to dephasing and the SNS fluctuations thus provide a sensitive probe of dephasing in a regime where normal transport fails to detect it. Further, the conductance fluctuations are strongly nonlinear in bias voltage and reveal subgap structure. The experimental findings are qualitatively explained in terms of multiple Andreev reflections in chaotic quantum dots with imperfect contacts.

Correlation between resistance fluctuations and temperature dependence of conductivity in graphene

The weak temperature dependence of the resistance R(T) of monolayer graphene1-3 indicates an extraordinarily high intrinsic mobility of the charge carriers. Important complications are the presence of mobile scattering centres that strongly modify charge transport, and the presence of strong mesoscopic conductance fluctuations that, in graphene, persist to relatively high temperatures4,5. In this Letter, we investigate the surprisingly varied changes in resistance that we find in graphene flakes as temperature is lowered below 70 K. We propose that these changes in R(T) arise from the temperature dependence of the scattered electron wave interference that causes the resistance fluctuations. Using the field effect transistor configuration, we verify this explanation in detail from measurements of R(T) by tuning to different gate voltages corresponding to particular features of the resistance fluctuations. We propose simple expressions that model R(T) at both low and high charge carrier densities.

Mesoscopic conductance fluctuations in graphene

We study fluctuations of the conductance of micron-sized graphene devices as a function of the Fermi energy and magnetic field. The fluctuations are studied in combination with analysis of weak localization which is determined by the same scattering mechanisms. It is shown that the variance of conductance fluctuations depends not only on inelastic scattering that controls dephasing but also on elastic scattering. In particular, contrary to its effect on weak localization, strong intervalley scattering suppresses conductance fluctuations in graphene. The correlation energy, however, is independent of the details of elastic scattering and can be used to determine the electron temperature of graphene structures.

Quantum Transport Thermometry for Electrons in Graphene

We propose a method of measuring the electron temperature T_{e} in mesoscopic conductors and demonstrate experimentally its applicability to micron-size graphene devices in the linear-response regime (T_{e} approximately T, the bath temperature). The method can be especially useful in case of overheating, T_{e}>T. It is based on analysis of the correlation function of mesoscopic conductance fluctuations. Although the fluctuation amplitude strongly depends on the details of electron scattering in graphene, we show that T_{e} extracted from the correlation function is insensitive to these details.