Localization Lengths of Electronic States in One-Dimensional Disordered Potential Chains

Abstract

We present a simple approach to the calculation of localization lengths of electronic states in a one-dimensional tight-binding model with nearest-neighbor interactions only. Monte Carlo calculations for a binary alloy with diagonal randomness only show longer-ranged states at energies which are allowed for both constituents and shorter-ranged states in the tails. The length of the longest-ranged states decreases continuously with increasing randomness, without any sharp transition. These results are compared with transmission calculations, and a simple physical interpretation is obtained thereby.