Disorder-induced crossover from phase-averaging to mode-mixing regimes in magnetic domain walls of a second-order topological insulator
Phys. Rev. B 114, 125418 – Published 24 August, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/tn8r-ffnv
Abstract
We investigate electronic transport across a magnetic domain wall (DW) in a three-dimensional (3D) second-order topological insulator subject to Anderson disorder. In the clean limit, the DW hosts two copropagating one-dimensional (1D) topological edge states that act as the two arms of an effective Aharonov-Bohm (AB) interferometer, inducing a sinusoidal conductance oscillation. Upon the introduction of disorder, the AB oscillations are suppressed, while a half-quantized plateau of for the ensemble-averaged conductance emerges. Notably, within this plateau, the conductance fluctuation exhibits a distinctive two-step plateau structure, with values of at moderate disorder, followed by a second plateau at under strong disorder. By developing theoretical frameworks that account for the random-phase interference and intermode mixing of the two arms, we identify the first fluctuation plateau as a signature of the phase-averaging regime (PAR) and the second as a signature of the mode-mixing regime (MMR). Furthermore, we show that, in the PAR, the conductance follows a U-shaped beta distribution, while it evolves into a uniform distribution in the MMR. The Fano factor associated with shot noise is also computed, which exhibits a similar two-step plateau structure at and , corresponding to the PAR and MMR, respectively. Our work provides a clear demonstration of the disorder-induced crossover from PAR to MMR, and highlights the crucial role of second-order conductance cumulants in identifying these transport regimes. The results suggest disorder-engineering as a powerful route for controlling electronic transport across DW-based devices.
