English

Aharonov-Bohm magnetism in open Fermi surfaces

Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics 2023-03-09 v1

Abstract

Orbital diamagnetism requires closed orbits according to the Liftshiftz-Kosevich theory. Therefore, one might expect that open Fermi surfaces do not have a diamagnetic response. Contrary to this expectation, we show that open orbits in finite systems do contribute a magnetic response which oscillates between diamagnetism and paramagnetism. The oscillations are similar to the Aharonov-Bohm effect, because the oscillation phase is set by the number of flux quanta through the area defined by the width of the sample and the distance between adjacent atomic layers. The magnetic response originates from the closed trajectories formed by counter-propagating open orbits coupled via specular boundary reflections. The phenomenon acts as a probe of the phase coherence of open electron trajectories.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2303.04310,
  title  = {Aharonov-Bohm magnetism in open Fermi surfaces},
  author = {Kostas Vilkelis and Ady Stern and Anton Akhmerov},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2303.04310},
  year   = {2023}
}
R2 v1 2026-06-28T09:06:41.394Z