Anomalous fractal scaling in two-dimensional electric networks

Abstract

Abstract Much of the qualitative nature of physical systems can be predicted from the way it scales with system size. Contrary to the continuum expectation, we observe a profound deviation from logarithmic scaling in the impedance of a two-dimensional L C circuit network. We find this anomalous impedance contribution to sensitively depend on the number of nodes N in a curious erratic manner and experimentally demonstrate its robustness against perturbations from the contact and parasitic impedance of individual components. This impedance anomaly is traced back to a generalized resonance condition reminiscent of Harper’s equation for electronic lattice transport in a magnetic field, even though our circuit network does not involve magnetic translation symmetry. It exhibits an emergent fractal parametric structure of anomalous impedance peaks for different N that cannot be reconciled with a continuum theory and does not correspond to regular waveguide resonant behavior. This anomalous fractal scaling extends to the transport properties of generic systems described by a network Laplacian whenever a resonance frequency scale is simultaneously present.