We study quantum transport in HgTe/HgCdTe quantum wells under the condition that the chemical potential is located outside of the bandgap. We first analyze symmetry properties of the effective Bernevig-Hughes-Zhang Hamiltonian and the relevant symmet
ry-breaking perturbations. Based on this analysis, we overview possible patterns of symmetry breaking that govern the quantum interference (weak localization or weak antilocalization) correction to the conductivity in two dimensional HgTe/HgCdTe samples. Further, we perform a microscopic calculation of the quantum correction beyond the diffusion approximation. Finally, the interference correction and the low-field magnetoresistance in a quasi-one-dimensional geometry are analyzed.
We study the influence of spin on the quantum interference of interacting electrons in a single-channel disordered quantum wire within the framework of the Luttinger liquid (LL) model. The nature of the electron interference in a spinful LL is partic
ularly nontrivial because the elementary bosonic excitations that carry charge and spin propagate with different velocities. We extend the functional bosonization approach to treat the fermionic and bosonic degrees of freedom in a disordered spinful LL on an equal footing. We analyze the effect of spin-charge separation at finite temperature both on the spectral properties of single-particle fermionic excitations and on the conductivity of a disordered quantum wire. We demonstrate that the notion of weak localization, related to the interference of multiple-scattered electron waves and their decoherence due to electron-electron scattering, remains applicable to the spin-charge separated system. The relevant dephasing length, governed by the interplay of electron-electron interaction and spin-charge separation, is found to be parametrically shorter than in a spinless LL. We calculate both the quantum (weak localization) and classical (memory effect) corrections to the conductivity of a disordered spinful LL. The classical correction is shown to dominate in the limit of high temperature.
Recent theoretical results on magnetotransport of electrons in a 2D system in the range of moderately strong transverse magnetic fields are reviewed. The phenomena discussed include: quasiclassical memory effects in systems with various types of diso
rder, transport in lateral superlattices, interaction-induced quantum magnetoresistance, quantum magnetooscillations in dc and ac transport, and oscillatory microwave photoconductivity.
