Fluctuation corrections to Lifshitz tails in disordered systems

Abstract: Quenched disorder in semiconductors induces localized electronic states at the band edge, which manifest as an exponential tail in the density of states. For large impurity densities, this tail takes a universal Lifshitz form that is characterized by short-ranged potential fluctuations. We provide both analytical expressions and numerical values for the Lifshitz tail of a parabolic conduction band, including its exact fluctuation prefactor. Our analysis is based on a replica field integral approach, where the leading exponential scaling of the tail is determined by an instanton profile, and fluctuations around the instanton determine the subleading pre-exponential factor. This factor contains the determinant of a fluctuation operator, and we avoid a full computation of its spectrum by using a Gel'fand-Yaglom formalism, which provides a concise general derivation of fluctuation corrections in disorder problems. We provide a revised result for the disorder band tail in two dimensions.