Speaker
Description
Most of our knowledge on the quantum physics of electrons in crystalline matter is based on Bloch’s Theorem [1]. This important result states that electrons move like plane-waves across any spatially periodic potential and forms the basis of the electronic band theory of solids. Despite its success in explaining most properties observed in real-life conductors and semi- conductors, exceptional phenomena are known to be caused by (the ubiquitous) deviations from a perfect crystalline order. Paradigmatic examples of disorder-controlled physics phenomena can be traced back to the proposals of P. W. Anderson [2], who discovered that disorder can induce metal-to-insulator transitions caused by localisation of eigenstates [3]. Over the years, many other examples where found, from the emergence of sample specific mesoscopic current fluctuations [4] to the quantised Hall effect in two-dimensional electron gases [5].
In this talk, I will briefly review important disorder effects in both static and transport properties of materials, providing some guidelines on current research trends in the subject [11-12]. The “mantra” of this presentation will highlight the central role of computer simulations in the investigation of disorder effects in condensed matter. This fact will be illustrated by specific examples off some recent work [6-12] done within the condensed matter theory group of CFP. Some of these results share strong ties with the ongoing development of theQuantumKITE [6], an open-source software capable of an exceptionally efficient numerical study of non-interacting disordered quantum matter.
References
[1] Felix Bloch, Zeitschrift für Physik 52 (7–8): 555–600 (1928)
[2] P. W. Anderson, Physical Review 109, 1492 (1958);
[3] F. Evers and A. D. Mirlin, Reviews of Modern Physics 80, 1355 (2008);
[4] P. A. Lee and A. Douglas Stone, Physical Review Letters 55, 1622 (1985):
[5] Klaus von Klitzing, Reviews of Modern Physics 58, 519 (1986);
[6] S. M. João et al. Royal Society: Open Science 7,191809 (2020);
[7] N. A. Khan et al. Journal of Physics: Cond. Matt. 31 (17), 175501 (2019);
[8] J. P. Santos Pires et al. Physical Review B 99 (20), 205148 (2019);
[9] S. M. João et al. Journal of Physics: Cond. Matt. 32 (12), 15501 (2019);
[10] J. P. Santos Pires et al. Physical Review B 101 (10), 104203 (2020);
[11] M. Gonçalves et al. Physical Review Letters 124 (13), 136405 (2020);
[12] J. P. Santos Pires et al. Physical Review Research 3 (1), 013183 (2021)
