Search arXivSearch

arXiv · 1003.4195

Asymmetric metal-insulator transition in disordered ferromagnetic films

Abstract

We present experimental data and a theoretical interpretation on the conductance near the metal-insulator transition in thin ferromagnetic Gd films of thickness b approximately 2-10 nm. A large phase relaxation rate caused by scattering of quasiparticles off spin wave excitations renders the dephasing length L_phi < b in the range of sheet resistances considered, so that the effective dimension is d = 3. The observed approximate fractional temperature power law of the conductivity is ascribed to the scaling regime near the transition. The conductivity data as a function of temperature and disorder strength collapse on to two scaling curves for the metallic and insulating regimes. The best fit is obtained for a dynamical exponent z approximately 2.5 and a correlation length critical exponent ν' approximately 1.4 on the metallic side and a localization length exponent νapproximately 0.8 on the insulating side.

Explore related subjects

Keep this discovery

Explore connections, maps & timelines

BibTeXRIS

R. Misra, A. F. Hebard, K. A. Muttalib, P. Wolfle. 2010-03-22. Asymmetric metal-insulator transition in disordered ferromagnetic films. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.107.037201

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related papers

R-transforms for non-Hermitian matrices: a spherical integral approach

In this paper, we establish a connection between the formalism of $\mathcal{R}$-transforms for non-Hermitian random matrices and the framework of spherical integrals, using the replica method. This connection was previously proved in the Hermitian setting and in the case of bi-invariant random matrices. We show that the $\mathcal{R}$-transforms used in the non-Hermitian context in fact originate from a single scalar function of two variables. This provides a new and transparent way to compute $\mathcal{R}$-transforms, which until now had been known only in restricted cases such as bi-invariant, Hermitian, or elliptic ensembles.

cond-mat.dis-nn

Spectral boundaries of deterministic matrices deformed by rotationally invariant random non-Hermitian ensembles

One of the great miracles of random matrix theory is that, in the $N \to \infty$ limit, many otherwise intractable matrix problems with horrendously complicated finite-$N$ expressions admit remarkably simple and elegant asymptotic solutions. In this paper, we illustrate this phenomenon in the context of spectral boundaries (or spectral edges) for deformed random matrices. Specifically, we consider matrices of the form $\mathbf{A} + \mathbf{B}$, where $\mathbf{A}$ is a deterministic $N\times N$ matrix (not necessarily Hermitian) and $\mathbf{B}$ is a rotationally invariant random matrix. In the large-$N$ limit, we show that the complex eigenvalue distribution of $\mathbf{A} + \mathbf{B}$ satisfies remarkably simple boundary equations that depend on the $\mathcal{R}_1$ and $\mathcal{R}_2$ transforms of $\mathbf{B}$. We illustrate our results on several explicit random matrix ensembles and support them with numerical simulations.

cond-mat.dis-nn

Electrical conductivity of crack-template-based transparent conducting films: mean-field approximation, effective-medium theory, and simulation

In this work, crack-template-based transparent conducting films were modeled as networks corresponding to the edges of a two-dimensional Poisson--Voronoi diagram. Two types of networks were considered: the original one, in which the conductance of each edge was inversely proportional to its length, and the effective one, in which all edges had the same conductance obtained from the effective-medium theory. The mean-field approximation was used for analytical evaluation of the electrical conductivity. Direct numerical calculations for the Poisson--Voronoi diagram showed that the mean-field approximation overestimated the effective conductivity of the original network by approximately 13\%, and of the effective network by 79\%. In addition, a honeycomb network with an edge conductance distribution corresponding to the Poisson--Voronoi diagram was studied: for it, the predictions of the effective-medium theory turned out to be more accurate than for the Poisson--Voronoi diagram, which was explained by the greater structural homogeneity of the periodic honeycomb lattice. The results indicate that, when modeling crack-template-based transparent conducting films, the application of the mean-field approximation may lead to significant errors if the resistance of individual conductors is not simply proportional to their length. This possibility is discussed as a motivation for future studies of hierarchical cracks with variable width, which are not directly investigated here.

cond-mat.dis-nn