Optically induced Aharonov-Bohm effect in mesoscopic rings

H. Sigurdsson, O. V. Kibis, and I. A. Shelykh

Phys. Rev. B 90, 235413 – Published 4 December 2014

Abstract

We show theoretically that strong electron coupling to circularly polarized photons in non-singly-connected nanostructures results in the appearance of an artificial gauge field that changes the electron phase. The effect arises from the breaking of time-reversal symmetry and is analogous to the well-known Aharonov-Bohm phase effect. It can manifest itself in the oscillations of conductance as a function of the intensity and frequency of the illumination. The theory of the effect is elaborated for mesoscopic rings in both ballistic and diffusive regimes.

Received 14 April 2014
Revised 15 October 2014

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.90.235413

Authors & Affiliations

H. Sigurdsson^1,2, O. V. Kibis^3,1,*, and I. A. Shelykh^1,2

¹Division of Physics and Applied Physics, Nanyang Technological University, 637371, Singapore
²Science Institute, University of Iceland, Dunhagi-3, IS-107 Reykjavik, Iceland
³Department of Applied and Theoretical Physics, Novosibirsk State Technical University, Karl Marx Avenue 20, Novosibirsk 630073, Russia

^*Oleg.Kibis@nstu.ru

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Vol. 90, Iss. 23 — 15 December 2014

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