Categories
Disordered Systems electrical conductivity Percolation Transport Processes

Correlated Hopping in a Disordered Medium

R. Hilfer

Physical Review B 44, 628 (1991)
10.1103/PhysRevB.44.628

submitted on
Monday, March 6, 1989

This paper discusses random walks with memory on a percolating network as a model of correlated hopping transport through a disordered system. Correlations can arise from such sources as hard-core and Coulomb repulsions, correlated hops of groups of particles, or lattice-relaxation effects. In general these correlations will result in a difference between the hopping probability for return to the previously visited site and the probability to jump to another nearest neighbor of the currently occupied site. Thus the hopping process possesses a memory of its previous hop. Such a random walk is investigated in this paper for the case of bond percolation on a regular lattice. The frequency-dependent conductivity σ(ω) is calculated using a generalized effective-medium approximation. Results are presented for the linear chain and the hexagonal lattice. New features appear in both the real and the imaginary part of σ. These depend on the strength of the correlations and on the concentration of bonds. As an example, the possibility of a pronounced maximum in the real part of σ(ω) at finite frequencies is found, which is sometimes accompanied by a change of sign in the imaginary part. The results are found to agree qualitatively with experimental data on ionic transport in Na+ β-alumina, where both disorder and correlations are known to be important.



For more information see

Categories
Disordered Systems electrical conductivity Lattice Models Nonequilibrium Percolation Statistical Physics Transport Processes

Correlated Random Walks in Dynamically Disordered Systems

R. Hilfer, R. Orbach

in: Dynamical Processes in Condensed Molecular Systems
edited by: J. Klafter and J. Jortner and A. Blumen
World Scientific Publ.Co., Singapore, 175 (1989)
https://doi.org/10.1142/9789814434379_0009
ISBN: 978-981-4434-37-9

submitted on
Tuesday, November 22, 1988

We discuss correlated hopping motion in a dynamically disordered environment. Particles of type A with one hopping rate diffuse in a background of B-particles with a different hopping rate. Double occupancy of sites is forbidden. Without correlations the limit in which the ratio of hopping rates diverges corresponds to diffusion on a percolating network, while the case of equal hopping rates is that of self-diffusion in a lattice gas. We consider also the effect of correlations. In general these will change the transition rate of the A-particle to the previously occupied site as compared to the rate for transitions to all other neighbouring sites. We calculate the frequency dependent conductivity for this model with arbitrary ratio of hopping rates and correlation strength. Results are reported for the two dimensional hexagonal lattice and the three dimensional face centered cubic lattice. We obtain our results from a generalization of the effective medium approximation for frozen percolating networks. We predict the appearance of new features in real and imaginary part of the conductivity as a result of correlations. Crossover behaviour resulting from the combined effect of disorder and correlations leads to apparent power laws over roughly one to two decades in frequency. In addition we find a crossover between a low frequency regime where the response is governed by the rearrangements in the geometry and a high frequency regime where the geometry appears frozen. We calculate the correlation factor for the d.c. limit and check our results against Monte Carlo simulations on the hexagonal and face centered cubic lattices. In all cases we find good agreement.



For more information see

Categories
Disordered Systems electrical conductivity Percolation Random Walks Stochastic Processes Transport Processes

Continuous Time Random Walk Approach to Dynamic Percolation

R. Hilfer, R. Orbach

Chemical Physics 128, 275 (1988)
https://doi.org/10.1016/0301-0104(88)85076-6

submitted on
Friday, September 16, 1988

We present an approximate solution for time (frequency) dependent response under conditions of dynamic percolation which may be related to excitation transfer in some random structures. In particular, we investigate the dynamics of structures where one random component blocks a second (carrier) component. Finite concentrations of the former create a percolation network for the latter. When the blockers are allowed to move in time, the network seen by the carriers changes with time, allowing for long-range transport even if the instantaneous carrier site availability is less than pc, the critical percolation concentration. A specific example of this situation is electrical transport in sodium β”-alumina. The carriersare Na+ ions which can hop on a two-dimensional honeycomb lattice. The blockers are ions of much higher activation energy, such as Ba++. We study the frequency dependence of the conductivity for such a system. Given a fixed Ba++ hopping rate the Na+ ions experience a frozen site percolation environment for frequencies larger than the inverse hopping rate. At frequencies smaller than the inverse hopping rate, the Na+ ions experience a dynamic environment which allows long-rangetransport, even below the percoltion threshold. A continuous time random walk mode1 combined with an effective medium approximation allows us to arrive at a numerical solution for the frequency-dependent Na+ conductivity which clearly exhibits the crossover from frozen to dynamic environment.



For more information see