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Andersonlocalization
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Incondensedmatterphysics,Andersonlocalizationistheabsenceofdiffusionofwavesinadisordered
medium.ThisphenomenonisnamedaftertheAmericanphysicistP.W.Anderson,whowasthefirsttosuggest
thatelectronlocalizationispossibleinalatticepotential,providedthatthedegreeofrandomness(disorder)in
thelatticeissufficientlylarge,ascanberealizedforexampleinasemiconductorwithimpuritiesordefects.[1]

Andersonlocalizationisageneralwavephenomenonthatappliestothetransportofelectromagneticwaves,
acousticwaves,quantumwaves,spinwaves,etc.Thisphenomenonistobedistinguishedfromweak
localization,whichistheprecursoreffectofAndersonlocalization(seebelow),andfromMottlocalization,
namedafterSirNevillMott,wherethetransitionfrommetallictoinsulatingbehaviourisnotduetodisorder,
buttoastrongmutualCoulombrepulsionofelectrons.

Contents
1 Introduction
2 Analysis
3 Experimentalevidence
4 Comparisonwithdiffusion
5 Notes
6 Furtherreading
7 Externallinks

Introduction
IntheoriginalAndersontightbindingmodel,theevolutionofthewavefunctionontheddimensional
latticeZdisgivenbytheSchrdingerequation

wheretheHamiltonianHisgivenby

withEjrandomandindependent,andinteractionV(r)fallingoffasr2atinfinity.Forexample,onemaytakeEj
uniformlydistributedin[W,+W],and

Startingwith0localisedattheorigin,oneisinterestedinhowfasttheprobabilitydistribution diffuses.
Anderson'sanalysisshowsthefollowing:

ifdis1or2andWisarbitrary,orifd3andW/issufficientlylarge,thentheprobabilitydistribution
remainslocalized:

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uniformlyint.ThisphenomenoniscalledAndersonlocalization.

ifd3andW/issmall,

whereDisthediffusionconstant.

Analysis
ThephenomenonofAndersonlocalization,particularlythatofweak
localization,findsitsorigininthewaveinterferencebetweenmultiple
scatteringpaths.Inthestrongscatteringlimit,thesevereinterferences
cancompletelyhaltthewavesinsidethedisorderedmedium.

Fornoninteractingelectrons,ahighlysuccessfulapproachwasput
forwardin1979byAbrahamsetal.[2]Thisscalinghypothesisof
localizationsuggeststhatadisorderinducedmetalinsulatortransition
(MIT)existsfornoninteractingelectronsinthreedimensions(3D)at
zeromagneticfieldandintheabsenceofspinorbitcoupling.Much
furtherworkhassubsequentlysupportedthesescalingargumentsboth
analyticallyandnumerically(Brandesetal.,2003seeFurther
Reading).In1Dand2D,thesamehypothesisshowsthatthereareno
extendedstatesandthusnoMIT.However,since2isthelowercritical
dimensionofthelocalizationproblem,the2Dcaseisinasensecloseto Exampleofamultifractalelectronic
3D:statesareonlymarginallylocalizedforweakdisorderandasmall eigenstateattheAnderson
spinorbitcouplingcanleadtotheexistenceofextendedstatesandthus localizationtransitioninasystem
anMIT.Consequently,thelocalizationlengthsofa2Dsystemwith with1367631atoms.
potentialdisordercanbequitelargesothatinnumericalapproaches
onecanalwaysfindalocalizationdelocalizationtransitionwheneither
decreasingsystemsizeforfixeddisorderorincreasingdisorderforfixedsystemsize.

MostnumericalapproachestothelocalizationproblemusethestandardtightbindingAndersonHamiltonian
withonsitepotentialdisorder.Characteristicsoftheelectroniceigenstatesaretheninvestigatedbystudiesof
participationnumbersobtainedbyexactdiagonalization,multifractalproperties,levelstatisticsandmany
others.Especiallyfruitfulisthetransfermatrixmethod(TMM)whichallowsadirectcomputationofthe
localizationlengthsandfurthervalidatesthescalinghypothesisbyanumericalproofoftheexistenceofaone
parameterscalingfunction.DirectnumericalsolutionofMaxwellequationstodemonstrateAnderson
localizationoflighthasbeenimplemented(ContiandFratalocchi,2008).

Experimentalevidence
TworeportsofAndersonlocalizationoflightin3Drandommediaexistuptodate(Wiersmaetal.,1997and
Storzeretal.,2006seeFurtherReading),eventhoughabsorptioncomplicatesinterpretationofexperimental
results(Scheffoldetal.,1999).Andersonlocalizationcanalsobeobservedinaperturbedperiodicpotential
wherethetransverselocalizationoflightiscausedbyrandomfluctuationsonaphotoniclattice.Experimental
realizationsoftransverselocalizationwerereportedfora2Dlattice(Schwartzetal.,2007)anda1Dlattice
(Lahinietal.,2006).TransverseAndersonlocalizationoflighthasalsobeendemonstratedinanopticalfiber
medium(Karbasietal.,2012)andhasalsobeenusedtotransportimagesthroughthefiber(Karbasietal.,
2014).IthasalsobeenobservedbylocalizationofaBoseEinsteincondensateina1Ddisorderedoptical
potential(Billyetal.,2008Roatietal.,2008).Andersonlocalizationofelasticwavesina3Ddisordered

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mediumhasbeenreported(Huetal.,2008).TheobservationoftheMIThasbeenreportedina3Dmodelwith
atomicmatterwaves(Chabetal.,2008).TheMIT,associatedwiththenonpropagativeelectronwaveshas
beenreportedinacmsizedcrystal(Yingetal.,2016)Randomlaserscanoperateusingthisphenomenon.

Comparisonwithdiffusion
Standarddiffusionhasnolocalizationproperty,beingindisagreementwithquantumpredictions.However,it
turnsoutthatitisbasedonapproximationoftheprincipleofmaximumentropy,whichsaysthattheprobability
distributionwhichbestrepresentsthecurrentstateofknowledgeistheonewithlargestentropy.This
approximationisrepairedinMaximalEntropyRandomWalk,alsorepairingthedisagreement:itturnsoutto
leadtoexactlythequantumgroundstatestationaryprobabilitydistributionwithitsstronglocalization
properties.[3][4]

Notes
1.Anderson,P.W.(1958)."AbsenceofDiffusioninCertainRandomLattices".Phys.Rev.109(5):14921505.
Bibcode:1958PhRv..109.1492A(http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1958PhRv..109.1492A).
doi:10.1103/PhysRev.109.1492(https://doi.org/10.1103%2FPhysRev.109.1492).
2.Abrahams,E.Anderson,P.W.Licciardello,D.C.Ramakrishnan,T.V.(1979)."ScalingTheoryofLocalization:
AbsenceofQuantumDiffusioninTwoDimensions"(http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.42.673).Phys.Rev.
Lett.42(10):673676.Bibcode:1979PhRvL..42..673A(http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1979PhRvL..42..673A).
doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.42.673(https://doi.org/10.1103%2FPhysRevLett.42.673).
3.Z.Burda,J.Duda,J.M.Luck,andB.Waclaw,LocalizationoftheMaximalEntropyRandomWalk(http://journals.a
ps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.102.160602),Phys.Rev.Lett.,2009.
4.J.Duda,ExtendedMaximalEntropyRandomWalk(http://www.fais.uj.edu.pl/documents/41628/d63bc0b7cb714eba
8a5ad974256fd065),PhDThesis,2012.

Furtherreading
Brandes,T.&Kettemann,S.(2003)."TheAndersonTransitionanditsRamificationsLocalisation,
QuantumInterference,andInteractions".Berlin:SpringerVerlag

Wiersma,DiederikS.etal.(1997)."Localizationoflightinadisorderedmedium".Nature.390(6661):
671673.Bibcode:1997Natur.390..671W(http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1997Natur.390..671W).
doi:10.1038/37757(https://doi.org/10.1038%2F37757).
Strzer,Martinetal.(2006)."ObservationofthecriticalregimenearAndersonlocalizationoflight".
Phys.Rev.Lett.96(6):063904.arXiv:condmat/0511284(https://arxiv.org/abs/condmat/0511284) .
Bibcode:2006PhRvL..96f3904S(http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2006PhRvL..96f3904S).
doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.96.063904(https://doi.org/10.1103%2FPhysRevLett.96.063904).
PMID16605998(https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16605998).
Scheffold,Franketal.(1999)."Localizationorclassicaldiffusionoflight?".Nature.398(6724):206
207.Bibcode:1999Natur.398..206S(http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1999Natur.398..206S).
doi:10.1038/18347(https://doi.org/10.1038%2F18347).
Schwartz,T.etal.(2007)."TransportandAndersonLocalizationindisorderedtwodimensional
PhotonicLattices".Nature.446(7131):5255.Bibcode:2007Natur.446...52S(http://adsabs.harvard.edu/a
bs/2007Natur.446...52S).doi:10.1038/nature05623(https://doi.org/10.1038%2Fnature05623).
PMID17330037(https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17330037).
Lahini,Y.etal.(2008)."Andersonlocalizationandnonlinearityinonedimensionaldisorderedphotonic
lattices"(http://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.100.013906).PhysicalReviewLetters.
100(1):013906.arXiv:0704.3788(https://arxiv.org/abs/0704.3788) .Bibcode:2008PhRvL.100a3906L
(http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2008PhRvL.100a3906L).doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.100.013906(https://d
oi.org/10.1103%2FPhysRevLett.100.013906).PMID18232768(https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1
8232768).
Karbasi,S.etal.(2012)."ObservationoftransverseAndersonlocalizationinanopticalfiber".Optics
Letters.37:2304.Bibcode:2012OptL...37.2304K(http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2012OptL...37.2304K).

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doi:10.1364/OL.37.002304(https://doi.org/10.1364%2FOL.37.002304).
Karbasi,S.etal.(2014)."Imagetransportthroughadisorderedopticalfibremediatedbytransverse
Andersonlocalization"(http://www.nature.com/ncomms/2014/140225/ncomms4362/abs/ncomms4362.ht
ml).NatureCommunications.5(3362).arXiv:1307.4160(https://arxiv.org/abs/1307.4160) .
Bibcode:2014NatCo...5E3362K(http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2014NatCo...5E3362K).
doi:10.1038/ncomms4362(https://doi.org/10.1038%2Fncomms4362).PMID24566557(https://www.ncb
i.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24566557).
Billy,Julietteetal.(2008)."DirectobservationofAndersonlocalizationofmatterwavesinacontrolled
disorder".Nature.453(7197):891894.arXiv:0804.1621(https://arxiv.org/abs/0804.1621) .
Bibcode:2008Natur.453..891B(http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2008Natur.453..891B).
doi:10.1038/nature07000(https://doi.org/10.1038%2Fnature07000).PMID18548065(https://www.ncbi.
nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18548065).
Roati,Giacomoetal.(2008)."AndersonlocalizationofanoninteractingBoseEinsteincondensate".
Nature.453(7197):895898.arXiv:0804.2609(https://arxiv.org/abs/0804.2609) .
Bibcode:2008Natur.453..895R(http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2008Natur.453..895R).
doi:10.1038/nature07071(https://doi.org/10.1038%2Fnature07071).PMID18548066(https://www.ncbi.
nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18548066).
Ludlam,J.J.etal.(2005)."Universalfeaturesoflocalizedeigenstatesindisorderedsystems".Journalof
Physics:CondensedMatter.17(30):L321L327.Bibcode:2005JPCM...17L.321L(http://adsabs.harvard.
edu/abs/2005JPCM...17L.321L).doi:10.1088/09538984/17/30/L01(https://doi.org/10.1088%2F095389
84%2F17%2F30%2FL01).
Conti,CA.Fratalocchi(2008)."Dynamiclightdiffusion,threedimensionalAndersonlocalizationand
lasingininvertedopals".NaturePhysics.4(10):794798.arXiv:0802.3775(https://arxiv.org/abs/0802.3
775) .Bibcode:2008NatPh...4..794C(http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2008NatPh...4..794C).
doi:10.1038/nphys1035(https://doi.org/10.1038%2Fnphys1035).
Hu,Hefeietal.(2008)."Localizationofultrasoundinathreedimensionalelasticnetwork".Nature
Physics.4(12):945.arXiv:0805.1502(https://arxiv.org/abs/0805.1502) .Bibcode:2008NatPh...4..945H
(http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2008NatPh...4..945H).doi:10.1038/nphys1101(https://doi.org/10.1038%2
Fnphys1101).
Chab,J.etal.(2008)."ExperimentalObservationoftheAndersonMetalInsulatorTransitionwith
AtomicMatterWaves".Phys.Rev.Lett.101(25):255702.arXiv:0709.4320(https://arxiv.org/abs/0709.4
320) .Bibcode:2008PhRvL.101y5702C(http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2008PhRvL.101y5702C).
doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.101.255702(https://doi.org/10.1103%2FPhysRevLett.101.255702).
PMID19113725(https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19113725).
Ying,Tianpingetal.(2016)."Andersonlocalizationofelectronsinsinglecrystals:LixFe7Se8"(http://ad
vances.sciencemag.org/content/2/2/e1501283).ScienceAdvances.2(2):e1501283.
Bibcode:2016SciA....2E1283Y(http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2016SciA....2E1283Y).
doi:10.1126/sciadv.1501283(https://doi.org/10.1126%2Fsciadv.1501283).

Externallinks
FiftyyearsofAndersonlocalization(http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.3206091),AdLagendijk,Bartvan
Tiggelen,andDiederikS.Wiersma,PhysicsToday62(8),24(2009).
ExampleofanelectroniceigenstateattheMITinasystemwith1367631atoms(http://www2.warwick.a
c.uk/fac/sci/csc/images/wf111.jpg)Eachcubeindicatesbyitssizetheprobabilitytofindtheelectronat
thegivenposition.Thecolorscaledenotesthepositionofthecubesalongtheaxisintotheplane
VideosofmultifractalelectroniceigenstatesattheMIT(http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/physics/rese
arch/theory/research/disqs/media)
Andersonlocalizationofelasticwaves(http://lpmmc.grenoble.cnrs.fr/spip.php?article408)
PopularscientificarticleonthefirstexperimentalobservationofAndersonlocalizationinmatterwaves
(http://www.opfocus.org/index.php?topic=story&v=1&s=1)

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