Gradient and Amplitude Scattering in Surface-Corrugated Waveguides

We investigate the interplay between amplitude and square-gradient scattering from the rough surfaces in multi-mode waveguides (conducting quantum wires). The main result is that for any (even small in height) roughness the square-gradient terms in the expression for the wave scattering length (electron mean free path) are dominant, provided the correlation length of the surface disorder is small enough. This important effect is missed in existing studies of the surface scattering.