Effect of a Bias Field on Disordered Wave Guides: Universal Scaling of Conductance and Application to Ultracold Atoms

Cécile Crosnier de Bellaistre (1) , Alain Aspect (1) , Antoine Georges (2, 3, 4) , Laurent Sanchez-Palencia (1)

1 Laboratoire Charles Fabry / Optique atomique
2 DQMP - Department of Quantum Matter Physics [Geneva]
3 CdF (institution) - Collège de France
4 CPHT - Centre de Physique Théorique [Palaiseau]

We study the transmission and conductance of a disordered matter wave guide subjected to a finite bias force field. We show that the statistical distribution of transmission takes a universal form. This distribution depends on a single parameter, the system length expressed in a rescaled metrics, which encapsulates all the microscopic features of the medium. Excellent agreement with numerics is found for various models of disorder and bias. For white-noise disorder and a constant force, we find algebraic decay of the transmission with distance, irrespective of the value of the force. The observability of these effects in ultracold atomic gases is discussed, taking into account specific features, such as finite-range disorder correlations, inhomogeneous forces, and finite temperatures.

Domaines: Gaz Quantiques [cond-mat.quant-gas]

Cécile Crosnier de Bellaistre, Alain Aspect, Antoine Georges, Laurent Sanchez-Palencia. Effect of a Bias Field on Disordered Wave Guides: Universal Scaling of Conductance and Application to Ultracold Atoms. 2016. ⟨hal-01371025v1⟩