On the stability of the polaron in one dimensional disordered systems

Abstract

A one-dimensional disordered system of electrons described by a tight binding model interacting with vibrational degrees of freedom (in harmonic approximation) is considered. A stable configuration is determined by a numerical minimization of the total energy which is based on the adiabatic approximation. The behaviour of the electron density (charge density wave) and the density of states is analysed. The localization properties are investigated as well. In contrast to the corresponding disordered system with vanishing electron-phonon coupling the present model has an energy gap. The formation of the gap and the polaron band is shown to be quite different for both onsite and intersite types of coupling terms. For large disorder, the lattice distortion and the gap disappear if only the vibrational contribution to the intersite coupling is important. They increase, however, if only the vibrational contribution to the site energies is taken into account. In both cases the localization length decreases upon increasing the electron-phonon coupling energy. The results are discussed with respect to low dimensional organic materials and amorphous semiconductors.