We report conductance measurements in quantum wires made of aluminum arsenide, a heavy-mass, multi-valley one-dimensional (1D) system. Zero-bias conductance steps are observed as the electron density in the wire is lowered, with additional steps observable upon applying a finite dc bias. We attribute these steps to depopulation of successive 1D subbands. The quantum conductance is substantially reduced with respect to the anticipated value for a spin- and valley-degenerate 1D system. This reduction is consistent with disorder-induced, intra-wire backscattering which suppresses the transmission of 1D modes. Calculations are presented to demonstrate the role of strain in the 1D states of this cleaved-edge structure.
@article{arxiv.cond-mat/0504214,
title = {Aluminum arsenide cleaved-edge overgrown quantum wires},
author = {J. Moser and T. Zibold and S. Roddaro and D. Schuh and M. Bichler and V. Pellegrini and G. Abstreiter and M. Grayson},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/0504214},
year = {2009}
}