Regulating Anderson localization with structural defect disorder

Abstract Localization due to disorder has been one of the most intriguing theoretical concepts that evolved in condensed matter physics. Here, we expand the theory of localization by considering two types of disorders at the same time, namely, the original Anderson’s disorder and the structural defect disorder, which has been suggested to be a key component in recently discovered two-dimensional amorphous materials. While increasing the degree of both disorders could induce localization of wavefunction in real space, we find that a small degree of structural defect disorder can significantly enhance the localization. As the degree of structural defect disorder increases, localized states quickly appear within the extended phase to enter a broad crossover region with mixed phases. We establish two-dimensional diagrams for the wavefunction localization and conductivity to highlight the interplay between the two types of disorders. Our theoretical model provides a comprehensive understanding of localization in two-dimensional amorphous materials and highlights the promising tunability of their transport properties.