Oscillatory magnetoconductance of narrow quantum waveguides in the presence of inhomogeneous magnetic fields

We present quantum mechanical calculations of magnetoconductance of narrow quantum waveguides in the presence of inhomogeneous perpendicular magnetic field with the use of a model of two coupled tight-binding chains and the transfer-matrix method. The variation of the magnetoconductance with the magnetic flux φ threading one unit cell in the chains for different Fermi energies of the electrons is presented. The effect of magnetically defined ‘barriers’ on the conductance as a function of the Fermi energy is studied in detail for various samples with different magnetically structural configurations. The profile of the conductance depends on the magnitude and the relative direction of the magnetic field piercing the magnetic ‘barriers’. The behaviors of the conductance for the linear-variation and other modulation functions of the magnetic field in a finite region are shown. The abrupt change of the magnetic field in the interface between two adjacent regions causes striking oscillation structures imposed upon the conductance steps. When the magnetic field is varied smoothly (adiabatically) the oscillation structures in the conductance are substantially suppressed and smeared out and finally replaced by the rounded conductance step in the corner. The presence of a magnetically defined cavity in the waveguide leads to pronounced oscillations and the appearance of resonant dip-peak pair in the conductance.