Magnetic Field Effects on the Transport Properties of One-sided Rough Wires

Abstract

We present a detailed numerical analysis of the effect of a magnetic field on the transport properties of a `small-$N$' one-sided surface disordered wire. When time reversal symmetry is broken due to a magnetic field $B$, we find a strong increase with $B$ not only of the localization length $ξ$ but also of the mean free path $\ell$ caused by boundary states. Despite this, the universal relationship between $\ell$ and $ξ$ does hold. We also analyze the conductance distribution at the metal-insulator crossover, finding a very good agreement with Random Matrix Theory with two fluctuating channels within the Circular Orthogonal(Unitary) Ensemble in absence(presence) of $B$

5 pages, 4 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev. B