The Landauer resistance of a one-dimensional metal with periodically spaced random impurities

Abstract

We find the dependence of the ensemble-averaged resistance, 〈ρ _L〉, of a one-dimensional chain consisting of periodically spaced random delta-function potentials of the chain length L, the incident-electron energy, and the chain disorder parameter w. We show that generally the 〈ρ _L〉 vs L dependence can be written as a sum of three exponential functions, two of which tend to zero as L℩∞. Hence the asymptotic expression for 〈ρ _L〉 is always an exponential function of L. Such an expression for 〈ρ _L〉 means that the electronic states are indeed localized and makes it possible (which is important) to find the dependence of the localization radius on the incident-electron energy and the force with which an electron interacts with the sites of the chain. We also derive a recurrence representation for 〈ρ _L〉, which proves convenient in numerical calculations.