Temperature-dependent diamagnetic-paramagnetic transitions in metal/semiconductor quantum rings

Abstract

We present theoretical studies of temperature dependent diamagnetic-paramagnetic transitions in thin quantum rings. Our studies show that the magnetic susceptibility of metal/semiconductor rings can exhibit multiple sign flips at intermediate and high temperatures depending on the number of conduction electrons in the ring ($N$) and whether or not spin effects are included. When the temperature is increased from absolute zero, the susceptibility begins to flip sign above a characteristic temperature that scales inversely with the number of electrons according to $N^{-1}$ or $N^{-1/2}$, depending on the presence of spin effects and the value of $N\,\mathrm{mod}\,4$. Analytical results are derived for the susceptibility in the low and high temperature limits, explicitly showing the spin effects on the ring Curie constant.