Classical properties of low-dimensional conductors: Giant capacitance and non-Ohmic potential drop

Abstract

Electrical field arising around an inhomogeneous conductor when an electrical current passes through it is not screened, as distinct from 3D conductors, in low-dimensional conductors. As a result, the electrical field depends on the global distribution of the conductivity sigma(x) rather than on the local value of it, inhomogeneities of sigma(x) produce giant capacitances C(omega) that show frequency dependence at relatively low omega, and electrical fields develop in vast regions around the inhomogeneities of sigma(x). A theory of these phenomena is presented for 2D conductors.