Conductance distributions in quasi-one-dimensional systems: the role of disorder

We present an account of how the conductance distribution varies with the Fermi energy in quasi-one-dimensional disordered systems. Different amounts of disorder have been considered to analyse different conduction regimes (from the ballistic to the diffusive). We also show the evolution of the transmission probability distribution for each propagating mode. For moderate disorder (transition between ballistic and diffusive regimes) we find that when the Fermi energy value allows n>1 open modes, there are (in general) two clear conductance distribution maxima close to (n-1)G0 and nG0, independent of the Fermi energy value. These results demonstrate that the conductance distributions have a complex structure with large variances. These features found in the conductance distributions illustrate the importance of the role attributed to disorder in the design of nanometric devices.