Non-interacting particles with long-range hopping are known to be delocalized in disordered systems of infinite size. Here, we show that such particles undergo localization in lattices of finite size, even macroscopically finite. This leads to a rather unusual phenomenon: quantum particles can transverse a lattice of size
10A, but not a lattice of size
A.
Non-interacting particles with long-range hopping are known to be delocalized in disordered systems of infinite size. It is thus natural to assume that such particles can traverse any finite-size lattice. Here, we demonstrate that this is not generally true. The delocalization mechanism is induced by resonances between distant lattice sites. The number of such resonances diverges with the system size. For a finite-size lattice the number of resonances is finite and may not be sufficient to result in delocalization. We consider particles with long-range (dipolar) hopping in three-dimensional lattices with diagonal disorder and random dilution. We compute the wavepacket dynamics of particles placed in an individual lattice site, the inverse participation ratios and the fluctuations of the wavefunctions with disorder. We show that, for certain finite-size disordered lattices, particles remain localized within a finite volume much smaller than the lattice size, and that the wavefunctions exhibit the log-normal fluctuations characteristic of Anderson localization. We characterize the localization properties as functions of dilution and diagonal disorder. We combine our results with scaling theory to obtain the size dependence of the localization--diffusion crossover. Our results indicate that particles with long-range hopping undergo exponential localization in lattices of finite size, even macroscopically finite. Our phase diagrams illustrate a rather unusual phenomenon: quantum particles can diffuse through a lattice of size
10A, but not through a lattice of size
A.