Sensitivity of the Conductance of a Disordered Metal to the Motion of a Single Atom: Implications for1fNoise

Abstract

We show that the conductance of metals is sensitive to the motion of a single scattering center. At zero temperature and in two dimensions, the motion of one strong scattering center induces changes of the conductance of order $\frac{e^2}{h}$, independent of sample size. We discuss the implications of this result for room-temperature $\frac{1}{f}$ noise in disordered metals and we predict an anomalous low-temperature $\frac{1}{f}$ noise in metallic glasses, due to two-level systems.