George Ricco with Harsh Mathur

Network Models of the Quantum Hall Effect

The Hall effect occurs when charge carriers moving through a medium experience a deflection due to an applied magnetic field. This deflection results in a measurable potential difference across the side of the medium that is transverse to the magnetic field and the current direction. The Hall resistance is this new potential divided by the current created by the movement of the charge carriers. The Quantum Hall Effect is the quantization of the Hall resistance to values that depend only on fundamental constants over a range of magnetic field. The nature of the electronic wavefunctions at the transition between quantized levels is not fully understood. Existing theoretical models will be examined by numerical and analytical techniques. These include Anderson’s model of a dirty “quantum wire” and Chalker’s model of the quantum Hall effect.