Electric-field and magnetic-field effects on electronic tunneling through magnetic-barrier nanostructures

We have theoretically investigated electric-field and magnetic-field effects on electronic transport properties in nanostructures consisting of realistic magnetic barriers created by lithographic patterning of ferromagnetic or superconducting films. The results indicate that the characteristics of transmission resonance are determined not only by the magnetic configuration and the incident wave vector but also strongly by the applied electric and magnetic fields. It is shown that transmission resonance shifts towards the low-energy region by applying the electric field, and that with increasing the electric field transmission resonance is suppressed for the entire incident wave vector in the magnetic nanostructures with antisymmetric magnetic profile, while for the magnetic nanostructures with symmetric magnetic profile transmission resonance is enhanced for certain incident wave vector. It is also shown that both transmission and conductance shift towards high-energy direction and are greatly suppressed with the increase of the external magnetic field.Received: 20 May 2003, Published online: 11 August 2003PACS: 73.40.Gk Tunneling - 73.23.-b Electronic transport in mesoscopic system - 75.70.Cn Interfacial magnetic properties (multilayers, superlattices)     

Nonlinear effects in resonant tunneling; bistabilities and self-sustained oscillating currents

We study nonlinear phenomena in double barrier heterostructures. Systems in 3D under the effect of an external magnetic field along the current and 1D systems are analyzed. Nonlinearities are reflected in theI–Vcharacteristic curve as bistabilities, instabilities and time-dependent oscillations of the currents. The nature of the nonlinear behavior depends upon the parameters that define the system.     

Persistent currents in mesoscopic rings

The discrepancy between measured values of the persistent current in mesoscopic rings and theoretical calculations based upon the model of independent electrons moving in a random potential is discussed. Some attempts at including the Coulomb interaction between electrons are reviewed, and results of model calculations are presented.     

Interplay between ferromagnetism and superconductivity in tunneling currents

We study tunneling currents in a model consisting of two nonunitary ferromagnetic spin-triplet superconductors separated by a thin insulating layer. We find a novel interplay between ferromagnetism and superconductivity, manifested in the Josephson effect. This offers the possibility of tuning dissipationless currents of charge and spin in a well-defined manner by adjusting the magnetization direction on either side of the junction.     

Persistent currents in mesoscopic connected rings

We report measurements of the low temperature magnetic response of a line of 16 GaAs/GaAlAs connected mesoscopic rings whose total length is much larger than l(straight phi). Using an on-chip micro-SQUID technology, we have measured a periodic response, with period h/e, corresponding to persistent currents in the rings of a typical amplitude of 0.40+/-0.08 nA per ring. Direct comparison with measurements on the same rings but isolated is presented.     

Persistent currents in three-dimensional shell-doped nanorings

The persistent current in three-dimensional (P× N²) nanorings as a function of the unit cell number (P), the channel number (M = N²), surface disorder (ξ ), and temperature (T) is theoretically investigated in terms of rotational symmetry. On the whole, the typical current increases linearly with \sqrt M but decreases exponentially with P, while wide fluctuations exist therein. In the presence of surface disorder, the persistent current decreases with ξ in the regime of weak disorder but increases in the regime of strong disorder. In addition, it is found that the persistent current in perfect rings decreases exponentially with temperature even at T < T^*     

Persistent currents in interacting lattice models

We present the results of an exact calculation of the averaged persistent current and its root mean square value in interacting disordered 1D rings. While the averaged persistent current exhibits a variety of interesting behaviors depending on the disorder and the strength of electron-electron interactions, the r.m.s. value depends very weakly on the strength of interaction. In general we observe that no dramatical increase of the averaged current or its r.m.s. value as a result of interactions is possible for these systems.     

Space charge enhanced tunneling currents in manganites

Current-voltage characteristics I(V) with a tunneling character have been observed in selected (“electroresistive”) ceramic manganites R_1−xA_xMnO₃ (R=La, Y; A=Ca, Ba). In this contribution, an I(V) model calculation based on spin-dependent transfer and a bipolar serial array of grains containing deGennes magnetic states are presented. The basic elements of the characteristic are so recovered, including its magnetic field (H) dependence, which in turn allows one to identify this array with a series of spin-dependent tunneling diodes connected in opposition. Besides, we find that the tunneling currents are only significant under space charge bending of the bands near the boundaries, that the electrochemical potential becomes H-field sensitive because of the spin-dependent electron state bandwidth b cos(q(H)/2) and that any slight randomness in the magnetic system will lead to hysteresis effects in the tunneling characteristic.     

Persistent currents in mesoscopic rings and conformal invariance

The effect of point defects on persistent currents in mesoscopic rings is studied in a simple tight-binding model. Using an analogy with the treatment of the critical quantum Ising chain with defects, conformal invariance techniques are employed to relate the persistent current amplitude to the Hamiltonian spectrum just above the Fermi energy. From this, the dependence of the current on the magnetic flux is found exactly for a ring with one or two point defects. The effect of an aperiodic modulation of the ring, generated through a binary substitution sequence, on the persistent current is also studied. The flux-dependence of the current is found to vary remarkably between the Fibonacci and the Thue-Morse sequences. Received: 4 March 1998 / Revised: 20 April 1998 / Accepted: 30 April 1998     

Persistent currents in one-dimensional aperiodic mesoscopic rings

In the tight-binding approximation, we have investigated the behaviour of persistent currents in a one-dimensional Thue-Morse mesoscopic ring threaded by a magnetic flux. By applying a transfer-matrix technique, the energy spectra and the persistent currents in the system have been numerically calculated. It is shown that the flux-dependent eigenenergies form “band” structures and the energy gaps will enlarge if the site energy increases. Actually, the site energy and the filling-up number of electrons are two important factors which have much influence upon the persistent current. Increment of the site energy in the system will lead to a dramatic suppression of the currents. When the highest-occupied energy level is on the top of the band, the total current is limited; otherwise, the persistent current increases by several orders of magnitude. Generally, this kind of large scale change in the magnitude of the current can easily be observed in the vicinity of band gaps. The parity effect in the Thue-Morse ring is also discussed. Received 22 January 2001 and Received in final form 25 October 2001     

Persistent spin currents in mesoscopic Heisenberg rings

We show that at low temperatures T an inhomogeneous radial magnetic field with magnitude B gives rise to a persistent magnetization current around a mesoscopic ferromagnetic Heisenberg ring. Under optimal conditions, this spin current can be as large as gmicro(B)(T/ variant Planck's over 2pi )exp([-2pi(gmicro(B)B/delta)(1/2)], as obtained from leading-order spin-wave theory. Here g is the gyromagnetic factor, micro(B) is the Bohr magneton, and delta is the energy gap between the ground-state and the first spin-wave excitation. The magnetization current endows the ring with an electric dipole moment.     

Persistent currents in superconducting quantum interference devices

Starting from the reduced dynamical model of a two-junction quantum interference device, it shown that a quantum analog of the system can be exhibited. This quantum model extends the well-known properties of the device when its characteristic dimensions are of the order of mesoscopic length scales. By finding eigenvalues of the corresponding Hamiltonian operator, the persistent currents flowing in the ring have been obtained. The resulting quantum analog of the overdamped two-junction quantum interference device can be seen as a supercurrent qubit operating in the limit of negligible capacitance and finite inductance.     

Persistent currents and magnetization in two-dimensional magnetic quantum systems

Persistent currents and magnetization are considered for a two-dimensional electron (or gas of electrons) coupled to various magnetic fields. Thermodynamic formulae for the magnetization and the persistent current are established and the “classical” relationship between current and magnetization is shown to hold for systems invariant both by translation and rotation. Applications are given, including the point vortex superposed onto an homogeneous magnetic field, the quantum Hall geometry (an electric field and an homogeneous magnetic field) and the random magnetic impurity problem (a random distribution of point vortices).