Bloch-like oscillations in a one-dimensional lattice with long-range correlated disorder

Abstract

We study the dynamics of an electron subjected to a uniform electric field within a tight-binding model with long-range-correlated diagonal disorder. The random distribution of site energies is assumed to have a power spectrum $S(k) \sim 1/k^{\alpha}$ with $\alpha > 0$. Moura and Lyra [Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 81}, 3735 (1998)] predicted that this model supports a phase of delocalized states at the band center, separated from localized states by two mobility edges, provided $\alpha > 2$. We find clear signatures of Bloch-like oscillations of an initial Gaussian wave packet between the two mobility edges and determine the bandwidth of extended states, in perfect agreement with the zero-field prediction.