Geometric-symmetry consideration on magneto-conductance oscillations in purely ballistic quantum rings

We report an analysis of the magneto-conductance oscillations in two-dimensional mesoscopic ring structures with different geometric symmetry. In particular, we demonstrate that the h/2e magneto-conductance oscillations may be absent or present in purely ballistic quantum rings depending on their geometric symmetry. A detailed analysis of the results is carried out by expanding the transmission amplitudes with backscattering terms. The role of interchannel scattering, which is an essential element of multichannel ballistic transport, is stressed.     

Quantum waveguide theory of a fractal structure

The electronic transport properties of fractal quantum waveguide networks in the presence of a magnetic field are studied. A Generalized Eigen-function Method (GEM) is used to calculate the transmission and reflection coefficients of the studied systems unto the fourth generation Sierpinski fractal network with node number N=123$N=123$. The relationship among the transmission coefficient T, magnetic flux Φ and wave vector k is investigated in detail. The numerical results are shown by the three-dimensional plots and contour maps. Some resonant-transmission features and the symmetry of the transmission coefficient T to flux Φ are observed and discussed, and compared with the results of the tight-binding model.     

Magnetoresistance in Parent Pnictide AFe2As2(A=Sr, Ba)

Magnetoresistances of SrFe₂As₂ and BaFe₂As₂ in the magnetic ordered state are studied. Positive magnetoresistance is observed in the magnetic fields H applied in the azimuthes of θta = 0°and 30° with respect to the c-axis. The magnetoresistance can reach 20% for SrFe₂As₂ and 12% for BaFe₂As₂ at H = 9 T with θ= 0°(H || c). Above the magnetic transition temperature, the magnetoresistance becomes negligible. The data in the magnetic ordered state could be described by a modified two-band galvanomagnetic model including the enhancement effect of the applied magnetic field on the spin-density-wave gap. The field enhanced spin-density-wave gaps for different types of carriers are different. Temperature dependencies of the fitting parameters are discussed.     

Quantum waveguide theory for hole transport in mesoscopic structures

A quantum waveguide theory is proposed for hole transport in the mesoscopic structures, including the band mixing effect. We found that due to the interference between the ‘light’ hole and ‘heavy’ wave, the transmission and reflection coefficients oscillate more irregularly as a function of incident wave vector geometry parameters. Furthermore conversion between the heavy hole and light hole states occurs at the intersection.     

Magnetoresistance of Electrons Channelled by Microscopic Magnetic Field Modulation

We report the magnetoresistance of two-dimensional electron gas, which is made of GaAs based epitaxial mul-tilayers and laterally subjected to a periodic magnetic field. The modulation field is produced by an array of submicrometre ferromagnets fabricated at the surface of the heterostructure. The magnetoresistance of about 20% is found at low temperature 80K. The measurement is in quantitative agreement with semiclassical simulations, which reveal that the magnetoresistance is due to electrons trapped in snake orbits along lines of zero magnetic field.     

Quantum corrections in AlCuFe quasicrystals

We report measurements on Hall-Effect, magnetoresistivity and resistivity for the quasicrystal-system AlCuFe. Data for three different compositions exhibiting electrical resistivities of 4200, 8700 and 9600 cm's, are discussed in terms of quantum corrections in the temperature range 5 to 50 K. It will be shown that the Coulomb contribution of these corrections reacts sensitively to the composition of the quasicrystal.Part of the thesis of R. Haberkern     

Effects of Coulomb interactions on spin states in vertical semiconductor quantum dots

The effects of direct Coulomb and exchange interactions on spin states are studied for quantum dots contained in circular and rectangular mesas. For a circular mesa a spin-triplet favored by these interactions is observed at zero and nonzero magnetic fields. We tune and measure the relative strengths of these interactions as a function of the number of confined electrons. We find that electrons tend to have parallel spins when they occupy nearly degenerate single-particle states. We use a magnetic field to adjust the single-particle state degeneracy, and find that the spin-configurations in an arbitrary magnetic field are well explained in terms of two-electron singlet and triplet states. For a rectangular mesa we observe no signatures of the spin-triplet at zero magnetic field. Due to the anisotropy in the lateral confinement single-particle state degeneracy present in the circular mesa is lifted, and Coulomb interactions become weak. We evaluate the degree of the anisotropy by measuring the magnetic field dependence of the energy spectrum for the ground and excited states, and find that at zero magnetic field the spin-singlet is more significantly favored by the lifting of level degeneracy than by the reduction in the Coulomb interaction. We also find that the spin-triplet is recovered by adjusting the level degeneracy with magnetic field. Received: 14 April 2000 / Accepted: 17 April 2000 / Published online: 6 September 2000     

Thermoelectric power, magnetoresistance of lead chalcogenides in the region of phase transitions under pressure

The longitudinal and transverse thermomagnetic Nernst-Ettingshausen (N-E) effects were measured at ultrahigh pressure up to 20 GPa under closure of semiconductor gap at NaCl- and GeS-type phases of n-PbTe, p-PbSe and p-PbS. Near ∼3 GPa, the maxima of N-E effects and magnetoresistance (and hence of mobility of charge carriers) attributed to gapless state for PbTe and PbSe were established. The reversible sign inversion of transverse N-E effect indicating the change in scattering mechanism of charge carries have been revealed at high pressure phase of PbSe. The lowering of thermomagnetic effects with pressure gave the evidence of indirect semiconductor gap at high pressure GeS-type phases in contrary to NaCl-phases.     

Quantum Waveguide Properties of Bethe Lattices with a Ring

Based on waveguide theory we investigate electronic transport properties of Bethe lattices with a mesoscopic ring threaded by a magnetic flux. The generalized eigen-function method (GEM) is used to calculate the transmission and reflection coefficients up to the fifth generation of Bethe lattices. The relationships among the transmission coefficient T, magnetic flux Φ and wave vector kl are investigated in detail. The numerical results are shown by the three-dimensional plots and contour maps. Some resonant-transmission features and the symmetry of the transmission coefficient T to flux Φ are observed and discussed.     

Fano Interference versus Kondo Effect in Strongly Correlated T-Shaped Quantum Dots Embedded in an Aharonov-Bohm Ring

We theoretically investigate the properties of the ground state of the strongly correlated T-shaped double quantum dots embedded in an Aharonov-Bohm ring in the Kondo regime by means of the one-impurity Anderson Hamiltonian. It is found that in this system, the persistent current depends sensitively on the parity and size of the ring. With the increase of interdot coupling, the persistent current is suppressed due to the enhancing Fano interference weakening the Kondo effect. Moreover, when the spin of quantum dot embedded in the Aharonov- Bohm ring is screened, the persistent current peak is not affected by interdot coupling. Thus this model may be a new candidate for detecting Kondo screening cloud.     

Kondo and Coulomb Interaction Effects in Spin-Polarized Transport through Double Quantum Dots

By means of the slave-boson mean-field approximation, we theoretically investigate the Kondo and Coulomb interaction effects in spin-polarized transport through two coupled quantum dots coupled to two ferromagnetic leads by the Anderson Hamiltonian. The density of states is calculated in the Kondo regime for the effect of the interdot Coulomb repulsion with both parallel and antiparallel lead-polarization alignments. Our results reveal that the interdot Coulomb interaction between quantum dots greatly influence the density of states of the dots.     

Kondo Resonance versus Fano Interference in Double Quantum Dots Coupled to a Two-Lead One-Ring System

We analyse the transport properties of a coupled double quantum dot （DQD） device with one of the dots （QD1） coupled to metallic leads and the other （QD2） embedded in an Aharonov-Bhom （A-B） ring by means of the slaveboson mean-field theory. It is found that in this system, the Kondo resonance and the Fano interference exist simultaneously, the enhancing Kondo effect and the increasing hopping of the QD2-Ring destroy the localized electron state in the QD2 for the QD1-leads, and accordingly, the Fano interference between the DQD-leads and the QD1-leads are suppressed. Under some conditions, the Fano interference can be quenched fully and the single Kondo resonance of the QD1-leads comes into being. Moreover, when the magnetic flux of the A-B ring is zero, the influence of the parity of the A-B ring on the transport properties is very weak, but this influence becomes more obvious with non-zero magnetic flux. Thus this model may be a candidate for future device applications.     

A capacitive method for hall effect measurements

A new, simple and reliable method for Hall effect measurements is introduced. The method employs a capacitive probe technique and requires neither special shaping of samples nor probing Hall contacts. With this method, Hall effect measurements onp-Ge have been first extended to high electric fields up to 3kV/cm at 4.2 K. The wide applicability of this method is discussed.     

Low-temperature magnetoresistance due to weak localization in lightly doped semiconductors

The first observation of low-temperature magnetoresistance (MR) of interference nature in the case of a light doping is reported. The MR occurs in n- and p-type Ge samples at a frequency of 10 GHz at temperatures below 30 K in weak magnetic fields on the background of the classical MR effect associated with electrons in different valleys (n-Ge) and with heavy and light holes (p-Ge).     

Large magnetoresistance at room-temperature in small-molecular-weight organic semiconductor sandwich devices

We present an extensive study of a large, room temperature magnetoresistance (MR) effect in tris-(8-hydroxyquinoline) aluminum sandwich devices. The effect is similar to that previously discovered in π-conjugated polymer devices. We characterize this effect and discuss its dependence on magnetic field direction, voltage, temperature, film thickness, and electrode materials. The MR effect reaches almost 10% at fields of 10 mT at room temperature. The effect shows only a weak temperature dependence and is independent of the sign and direction of the magnetic field. Measuring the devices' current-voltage characteristics, we find that the current depends on the voltage through a power-law. We find that the magnetic field changes the prefactor of the power-law. We also studied the effect of the magnetic field on the electroluminescence (MEL) of the devices and analyze the relationship between MR and MEL.     

Structural and galvanomagnetic properties of CuInS2 films

Thin copper-indium-disulphide films were prepared by thermal evaporation technique. X-ray diffraction analysis of the compound used for evaporation showed a tetragonal polycrystalline structure. Differential Thermal Analysis (DTA) of this compound showed two exothermic peaks at 585 and 632 °C. Thin films with thicknesses of 0.14 and 0.27 nm have a deposition rate 10 nm/min, while those with thicknesses of 0.54 and 0.56 nm have a deposition rate 48 nm/min. The obtained films have polycrystalline structure as shown from the electron diffraction study. A growth process was detected in the films by transmission electron microscopy as the film thickness increases. The surface topography was revealed by scanning electron microscopy. The variations of Hall mobility and carrier concentration with magnetic induction were studied. The resistivity-temperature relationship was investigated, from which the activation energies before and after annealing were found to be 0.2, 0.3 and 0.055 eV, respectively.     

A new combination of scattering mechanisms for transverse runaway (TR) of hot electrons

A new combination of energy and momentum scattering mechanisms has been found at which the transverse runaway (TR) of hot electrons takes place. Up to now only two combinations of scattering mechanisms at which TR occurred have been known. These two combinations were obtained by analytical solution of a complex integral equation at certain approximations. In the present work, using modern numerical methods, with no above-mentioned approximations, a solution of the integral equation for a new combination of scattering mechanisms has been found.In the work physical conditions responsible for dominance of corresponding scattering mechanisms are also analyzed.     

Hall effect in Al-W thin films

The Hall coefficient, R_H, electrical resistivity, ρ, and temperature coefficient of resistivity, α, of Al_xW_100−x (61≤x≤88) thin films and amorphous-like tungsten films are reported. The Al_xW_100−x films have been prepared by magnetron co-deposition of pure metals onto glass substrate. Films are X-ray amorphous for 63≤x≤86. Amorphous-like tungsten films (x=0) were obtained at sputtering conditions different from those applied for the preparation of Al-W alloys. The R_H value is strongly dependent upon the alloy composition: it changes sign from positive to negative at x≈78, and exhibits a maximum for x≈68 at.%. With the decrease of Al content, ρ steeply increases and exhibits a maximum at x≈80 at.%. The temperature coefficient of the resistivity exhibits large negative values, with a well-defined minimum at x≈80. The Hall coefficient of films with 67≤x≤80 has also been determined at liquid nitrogen temperature, and the values obtained were the same as the room temperature values. Since the value of electrical resistivity of the examined alloys in the temperature interval from 77 to 300 K noticeably changes (10%), a significant anomalous contribution to the Hall effect is thus excluded.     

Characterization of conductance under finite bias for a self-assembled monolayer coated Au quantized point contact

We have demonstrated that an experimental cross-wire junction set-up can be used to measure the I-V characteristics of a self-assembled monolayer (SAM) stabilized metal quantized point contact. The increased stability due to the presence of the SAM allows the measurement of the I-V characteristics. However, the SAM also provides additional conductance paths in addition to the pure metal point contact. The presence of the SAM may contribute to the non-integral quantum conductance transition and the non-linear I-V characteristics of the quantum contact. Nonetheless, a straight I-V curve is obtained for the Au quantized point contact from 0 to 1 V with a conductance of approximately 1G₀, in contrast to previous work reported in the literature.