Semiconductor Analog of the Large Persistent Currents Observed in Small Gold Rings
Abstract
The remarkably large persistent currents that are observed in disordered micron-scale gold rings at low temperatures have recently been explained in a theory of non-interacting electrons scattered by crystal grain boundaries. The present article examines the possibility that the basic physics underlying this explanation may also have observable consequences in a different system, a ballistic two-dimensional semiconductor ring with a potential barrier. It is predicted, using computer simulations, that such semiconductor rings can exhibit large persistent currents ~ evF/L (L is the ring circumference), despite the electron transmission probability through the barrier being small, in the regime of quantum-mechanical tunneling of electrons through the barrier. This, like the phenomenon observed in gold rings, is a manifestation of the fundamental dissimilarity of non-equilibrium transport phenomena and equilibrium persistent currents.
Cite
@article{arxiv.cond-mat/9501058,
title = {Semiconductor Analog of the Large Persistent Currents Observed in Small Gold Rings},
author = {George Kirczenow},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/9501058},
year = {2016}
}
Comments
6 pages plus 3 figures. Self-unpacking uuencoded postscript. Unpacking instructions are at the beginning of the file.