Impurity-induced stabilization of Luttinger liquid in quasi-one-dimensional conductors

Abstract

It is shown theoretically that the Luttinger liquid phase in quasi-one-dimensional conductors can exist in the presence of impurities in a form of a collection of bounded Luttinger liquids. The conclusion is based upon the observation by Kane and Fisher that a local impurity potential in Luttinger liquid acts, at low energies, as an infinite barrier. This leads to a discrete spectrum of collective charge and spin density fluctuations, so that interchain hopping can be considered as a small parameter at temperatures below the minimum excitation energy of the collective modes. The results are compared with recent experimental observation of a Luttinger-liquid-like behavior in thin NbSe$_3$ and TaS$_3$ wires.