Direct Observation of the Aharonov-Casher Phase
Abstract
Ring structures fabricated from HgTe/HgCdTe quantum wells have been used to study Aharonov-Bohm type conductance oscillations as a function of Rashba spin-orbit splitting strength. We observe nonmonotonic phase changes indicating that an additional phase factor modifies the electron wave function. We associate these observations with the Aharonov-Casher effect. This is confirmed by comparison with numerical calculations of the magnetoconductance for a multichannel ring structure within the Landauer-Büttiker formalism.
- Publication:
-
Physical Review Letters
- Pub Date:
- February 2006
- DOI:
- 10.1103/PhysRevLett.96.076804
- arXiv:
- arXiv:cond-mat/0508396
- Bibcode:
- 2006PhRvL..96g6804K
- Keywords:
-
- 73.23.-b;
- 03.65.Vf;
- 71.70.Ej;
- Electronic transport in mesoscopic systems;
- Phases: geometric;
- dynamic or topological;
- Spin-orbit coupling Zeeman and Stark splitting Jahn-Teller effect;
- Condensed Matter - Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
- E-Print:
- 4 pages, 4 figures