Aharonov-Bohm cages in 2D normal metal networks

We report on magnetoresistance transport measurements performed on a bipartite tiling of rhombus in the GaAs/GaAlAs system. We observe for the first time large amplitude h/e oscillations in this network as compared to the one measured in square lattices of similar size. These oscillations are the signature of a recently predicted localization phenomenon induced by Aharonov-Bohm interferences in this peculiar network.     

Kondo-assistant Aharonov-Bohm transport in a quantum dot-Majorana wire system

We investigate the Kondo-assistant Aharonov-Bohm (AB) transport in a Quantum dot (QD) coupled with a topological Majorana wire. We noted that the conductance exhibits sensitive dependence on the phase factor of AB ring when the wire-QD coupling strength changes. The DOS resonance split when the coupling strength changes from small to large. The current is determined by the Kondo transport characteristics presented by the quantum dots (QDs). Also, the transport results show different p-dependence properties under parallel and anti-parallel leads alignment. We believe that these results can be helpful for understanding the Majorana-QD coupling properties as well as the detection of the Majorana bound states.     

Effect of quantum entanglement on Aharonov-Bohm oscillations, spin-polarized transport and current magnification effect

We present a simple model of transmission across a metallic mesoscopic ring. In one of its arm an electron interacts with a single magnetic impurity via an exchange coupling. We show that entanglement between electron and spin impurity states leads to reduction of Aharonov-Bohm oscillations in the transmission coefficient. The spin-conductance is asymmetric in the flux reversal as opposed to the two-probe electrical conductance which is symmetric. In the same model, in contradiction to the naive expectation of a current magnification effect, we observe enhancement as well as suppression of this effect depending on the system parameters. The limitations of this model to the general notion of dephasing or decoherence in quantum systems are pointed out.     

Electronic Aharonov-Bohm effect induced by quantum vibrations

Mechanical displacements of a nanoelectromechanical system shift the electron trajectories and hence perturb phase coherent charge transport through the device. We show theoretically that in the presence of a magnetic field such quantum-coherent displacements may give rise to an Aharonov-Bohm-type of effect. In particular, we demonstrate that quantum vibrations of a suspended carbon nanotube result in a positive nanotube magnetoresistance, which decreases slowly with the increase of temperature. This effect may enable one to detect quantum displacement fluctuations of a nanomechanical device.     

Kinetic transport theory with quantum coherence

We derive transport equations for fermions and bosons in spatially or temporally varying backgrounds with special symmetries, by use of the Schwinger-Keldysh formalism. In a noninteracting theory the coherence information is shown to be encoded in new singular shells for the 2-point function. Imposing this phase space structure to the interacting theory leads to a a self-consistent equation of motion for a physcial density matrix, including coherence and a well defined collision integral. The method is applied e.g. to demonstrate how an initially coherent out-of-equlibrium state approaches equlibrium through decoherence and thermalization.     

Aharonov-Bohm effect for plasmons in a finite-width quantum ring

The magnetoplasma oscillation frequencies of the 2D electrons in a quantum ring have been found taking into account the finite width of the ring in the model allowing for an exact solution for the single-particle spectrum. It is shown that instead of the periodic oscillations of the plasmon frequency ω typical of the 1D ring, ω in the case under consideration depends on the magnetic flux with the frequency and amplitude modulations: the period of oscillations as a function of the magnetic flux and their amplitude depend on the magnetic field strength.     

Superradiant and Aharonov-Bohm effect for the quantum ring exciton

The Aharonov-Bohm and superradiant effect on the radiative decay rate of an exciton in a quantum ring is studied. With the increasing of ring radius, the exciton decay rate is enhanced by superradiance, while the amplitude of AB oscillation is decreased. The competition between these two effects is shown explicitly and may be observable in time-resolved experiments.     

Macroscopic quantum coherence in a single molecular magnet and Kondo effect of electron transport

We report a Kondo-effect study of electron transport through a quantum dot with embedded biaxial single-molecule magnet based on slave boson mean-field theory and non-equilibrium Green-function technique. It is found the macroscopic quantum coherence of molecule-magnet results in the Kondo peak split of differential conductance due to interaction between electron and molecular magnet. It is also demonstrated that both the peak height and position can be controlled by the sweeping magnetic field and polarization of ferromagnetic electrodes. The characteristic peak split may be used to identify the macroscopic quantum coherence and develop molecule devices.     

Observation of "partial coherence" in an Aharonov-Bohm interferometer with a quantum dot

We report experiments on the interference through spin states of electrons in a quantum dot (QD) embedded in an Aharonov-Bohm (AB) interferometer. We have picked up a spin-pair state, for which the environmental conditions are ideally similar. The AB amplitude is traced in a range of gate voltage that covers the pair. The behavior of the asymmetry in the amplitude around the two Coulomb peaks agrees with the theoretical prediction that the spin-flip process in a QD is related to the quantum dephasing of electrons. These results constitute evidence of "partial coherence" due to an entanglement of spins in the QD and in the interferometer.     

Regularity of gauge equivalence in quantum mechanics and the Aharonov-Bohm effect

A general new proof of the Aharonov-Bohm effect is given. The proof is essentially based on the regularity theorem for elliptic operators and does not depend on the geometry or symmetry of the system. We also establish the inequivalence of the different canonical quantum realizations of classical systems whose configuration spaces are multiply connected.     

嵌入单量子点Aharonov-Bohm环中的近藤效应

使用单杂质的Ansderson模型, 从理论上研究了一个嵌入单量子点Aharonov-Bohm环系统处在 近藤区时的基态性质, 并用slave-boson平均场方法求解了该模型.结果表明：在零温, 当介 观环内电子平均能级间隔大于近藤关联能时, 系统内仍然存在一个被减弱了的近藤效应；系 统的基态性质依赖于系统的宇称和环的大小；而尺寸效应和近藤屏蔽效应的共存导致了系统 丰富的物理性质.同时, 可以通过测量介观环中的持续电流和杂质磁化率, 达到探测近藤屏 蔽云的目的. 关键词： 持续电流 杂质磁化率 宇称效应 近藤效应 近藤屏蔽云     

Modification of normal metal transport by the superconducting proximity effect

When a normal (N) metal makes intimate contact with a superconductor (S), the density of states in the normal metal is modified by the proximity effect. As a consequence, if a point contact is made with the normal metal the resulting tunnel conductance,G, is a function of the distance,x, from the N-S interface. We show that, for allx, G possesses a minimum at zero voltage and at finite voltage,G equals that of the structure without superconductivity present. The conductance is independent of the magnitude of the superconducting order parameter but depends upon the amount of normal scattering at the N-S interface.     

Flux-dependent transport through an Aharonov-Bohm interferometer with embedded multiple coupled quantum dots

The electron transport through an Aharonov-Bohm (AB) interferometer with embedded four coupled quantum dots (QDs) is studied with the Green's function technique. The QDs are coupled to each other by the hopping integral tc. Two among them connect with the left lead and the other two with the right lead by the tunneling matrix element T which incorporates the effects of the applied magnetic field φ. The linear conductance spectra swap between the molecular levels and the atomic states by adjusting tc and T. Fano effect appears when the electrons tunnel through different channels contributed by different QDs energy levels, and the Fano resonance peaks split for large tc. The Fano factor can be manipulated by tc, T, φ, and the QD energy levels.     

Optical properties in a two-dimensional quantum ring: Confinement potential and Aharonov-Bohm effect

Optical properties of a two-dimensional quantum ring with pseudopotential in the presence of an external magnetic field and magnetic flux have been theoretically investigated. Our results show that both of the pseudopotential and magnetic field can affect the third non-linear susceptibility and oscillator strength. In addition, we found that the oscillator strength and the absolute value of the resonant peak of the linear, non-linear and total absorption coefficient demonstrates the Aharonov-Bohm oscillation with magnetic flux, moreover, changes in confinement potential can influence the Aharonov-Bohm oscillation in peak while the resonant peak value of the linear, non-linear and total refractive index changes decreases as magnetic flux increases.     

Aharonov-Bohm effect revisited

The Aharonov-Bohm (AB) effect shows that electromagnetic potentials can influence an electron in a field-free region. The single-slit and double-slit electron diffraction patterns are explicitly calculated here by the Feynman path integral method for different configurations of the magnetic field in order to compare the effect of the vector potential with the effect of the magnetic field. When an electron passes through a magnetic field behind the slits, the whole diffrection pattern is shifted due to the Lorentz force. When an electron passes through two slits with magnetic flux confined to a small cylinder between them, the double-slit diffraction pattern is shifted within the single-slit diffraction envelope. The asymmetric diffraction pattern corresponds to a nonzero average displacement and momentum of the electron even though the field exerts no force on the electron. This behavior can be understood on the basis of a quantum-mechanical interference effect. The classical limit of the electron diffraction patterns is taken to obtain the classical particle distributions. The effect of the potential vanishes in the classical limit, while the effect of the magnetic field persists because of the Lorentz force.     

Thermal effect in phase-periodic electron transport in disordered mesoscopic normal metal/superconductor structures

We report measurements of the temperature dependence of the amplitude of phase-periodic conductance oscillations in disordered normal metal (Ag) structures, attached to a superconducting (Al) wire at two points. The amplitude of oscillations reaches its maximum at temperatureT ^*, when the Thouless energy is of the order ofk _B T. The results are in agreement with recent calculations by Nazarov and Stoof [Phys. Rev. Lett. 76 (1996) 823].