Luttinger-liquid-like transport in long InSb nanowires

Abstract

Long nanowires of degenerate semiconductor InSb in asbestos matrix (wire diameter is around 50 Å, length 0.1 - 1 mm) were prepared. Electrical conduction of these nanowires is studied over a temperature range 1.5 - 350 K. It is found that a zero-field electrical conduction is a power function of the temperature $G\propto T^α$ with the typical exponent $α\approx 4$. Current-voltage characteristics of such nanowires are found to be nonlinear and at sufficiently low temperatures follows the power law $I\propto V^β$. It is shown that the electrical conduction of these nanowires cannot be accounted for in terms of ordinary single-electron theories and exhibits features expected for impure Luttinger liquid. For a simple approximation of impure LL as a pure one broken into drops by weak links, the estimated weak-link density is around $10^3-10^4$ per cm.