Weak-localization effects in a resonant-tunneling junction

Igor Lerner, ME Raikh

Research output: Contribution to journalArticle

19 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

We study the effect of disorder in the metallic contacts on the conductance of a resonant-tunneling junction. The reason for the effect is that the resonant tunneling involves multiple virtual transitions between the impurity state in the barrier and the extended states in the contacts. The diffusive motion of the electron between subsequent visits to the impurity results in a weak-localization correction to the conductance of the junction. The magnetoresistance of the junction, which is caused by the suppression of this correction, is shown to be directly expressed, in the weak-disorder approximation, via the magnetoresistance of the contacts. If the conductance of the junction is dominated by only a few impurities, it exhibits random mesoscopic fluctuations with the magnetic field. A typical amplitude of the fluctuations turns out to be much higher than in the case of the universal conductance fluctuations.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)14036-14041
Number of pages6
JournalPhysical Review B
Volume45
Issue number24
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jun 1992

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