Effect of quantum hopping on the Coulomb gap of localized electrons in disordered systems

Qiming Li, Philip Phillips

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

In this paper, we use the coherent potential approximation to study the role quantum hopping plays on the Coulomb gap of insulating strongly correlated d=2 and d=3 dimensional systems. We find that substantial increase in the density of states at the Coulomb gap occurs only when the ratio between the hopping integral t and the gap width B exceeds a critical value. We estimate that the hopping integral corresponding to the experimental condition n<nc/3 satisfies t/B<0.05. For such values of t/B, quantum hopping brings about little change in the single particle density of states. The classical Coulomb gap therefore remains intact in both three and two dimensional systems, in contrast to a previous claim that the gap disappears for d=2 systems. The implication of these results on experiments on doped semiconductors is discussed.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)15035-15039
Number of pages5
JournalPhysical Review B
Volume48
Issue number20
DOIs
StatePublished - 1993
Externally publishedYes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Condensed Matter Physics

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