Effects of boundary roughness on the conductance of quantum wires

The generic effects induced by boundary roughness on the electron transport through quantum wires have been studied. It is found that the conductance of the rough quantum wires shows rapid fluctuations and strong, broad dips between adjacent plateaus at very low temperatures, and a recovery of the plateau structure at increased temperatures. It is also found that in the recovered plateau structure, the step values are suppressed and the conductance shows long transition regions between adjacent steps. These results agree with existing experiments and can be used as a guideline for the evaluation of the fabrication process of quantum wires. (C) 2000 American Institute of Physics. [S0003- 6951(00)04238-8].