Aharonov-Bohm Interferometer Research Articles

Modification of Majorana leakage effect due to the presence of quantum interference

This study delves into the Majorana leakage effect modified by the quantum interference, by coupling one Majorana zero mode (MZM) simultaneously to two dots in a double-quantum-dot Aharonov-Bohm interferometer device. Our findings reveal that the Majorana leakage effect significantly diverges from the single-dot case, predominantly influenced by the symmetry properties of the arms of the interferometer. Remarkably, with identical arms, the Majorana leakage effect halves the low-bias conductance magnitude for magnetic flux phase factor ϕ≠2nπ (n∈Integer). In contrast, when inter-arm symmetry is disrupted, this halving phenomenon is restricted to instances where ϕ=2nπ, accompanied by a 4π-periodic variation in low-bias conductances. Consequently, the Majorana leakage effect is intricately tied to the quantum interference patterns, offering insights into the quantum coherence and transport in hybrid superconducting systems.

Phase-controlled heat modulation with Aharonov-Bohm interferometers

A heat modulator is proposed based on a voltage-biased Aharonov-Bohm interferometer. Once an electrical bias is applied, Peltier effects give rise to a flow of heat that can be modulated by a magnetic flux. We determine the corresponding temperature changes using a simple thermal model. Our calculations demonstrate that the modulated temperature difference can be as large as 80 mK at base temperature about 600 mK with relative temperature variations reaching 10%. Our model also predicts, quite generally, the emergence of spin-polarized heat flows without any ferromagnetic contacts, if Rashba spin-orbit interaction is combined with the applied magnetic flux, which potentially paves the way towards caloritronic information processing. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Quantum transport in a multi-path graphene Aharonov–Bohm interferometer

We investigate the quantum transport dynamics of electrons in a multi-path Aharonov–Bohm interferometer comprising several parallel graphene nanoribbons. At low magnetic field strengths, the conductance displays a complex oscillatory behavior stemming from the interference of electron wave functions from different paths, reminiscent of the diffraction grating in optics. With increasing magnetic field strength, certain nanoribbons experience transport blockade, leading to conventional Aharonov–Bohm oscillations arising from two-path interference. We also discuss the impact of edge effects and the influence of finite temperature. Our findings offer valuable insights for experimental investigations of quantum transport in multi-path devices and their potential application for interferometry and quantum sensing.

Spin-related thermoelectricity in a hybrid Aharonov–Bohm interferometer with the Rashba effect

In order to explore the interplay among heat, charge, and spin, we investigate the spin-related thermoelectricity of a hybrid double quantum dot Aharonov–Bohm interferometer with Rashba spin–orbit coupling (RSOC). Interestingly, the nonzero RSOC phase difference can induce significant spin-dependent thermoelectric transport. Not only can the strong violation of the Wiedemann-Franz law be obtained, but also a pure spin-Seebeck effect can be produced, which may serve as a pure spin-current generator. The influence of system parameters on thermoelectric coefficients (especially for spin counterparts) are analyzed in detail, and the underlying physics is further elucidated. Furthermore, the spin figure of merit can be much larger than the charge one, which, thus, provides a realistic possibility of engineering spin thermoelectric devices with high performance. These results obtained may be of interest for developing spin thermoelectric devices in the field of spin caloritronics.

Manipulating electron waves in graphene using carbon nanotube gating

Graphene with its dispersion relation resembling that of photons offers ample opportunities for applications in electron optics. The spacial variation of carrier density by external gates can be used to create electron waveguides, in analogy to optical fiber, with additional confinement of the carriers in bipolar junctions leading to the formation of few transverse guiding modes. We show that waveguides created by gating graphene with carbon nanotubes (CNTs) allow obtaining sharp conductance plateaus, and propose applications in the Aharonov-Bohm and two-path interferometers, and a pointlike source for injection of carriers in graphene. Other applications can be extended to Bernal-stacked or twisted bilayer graphene or two-dimensional electron gas. Thanks to their versatility, CNT-induced waveguides open various possibilities for electron manipulation in graphene-based devices.

Spin-dependent transport through helical Aharonov-Bohm interferometer

We discuss spin-dependent transport via tunneling Aharonov-Bohm interferometer formed by helical edge states tunnel-coupled to helical leads. We focus on the experimentally relevant high-temperature case as compared to the level spacing and obtain the full 4×4 matrix of transmission coefficients in the presence of magnetic impurities. We show that spin conserving and spin-flip transmission coefficients of the setup can be effectively tuned by the magnetic flux. These features are attractive due to possible applications for spintronics, magnetic field detection, and quantum computing.

Manipulating Majorana qubit states without braiding

We propose a scheme to manipulate the Majorana qubit states other than braiding. By utilizing electron transport through Majorana zero modes and tuning the magnetic flux in the setup, the aim of Majorana qubit state manipulation can be fulfilled. The principal part in the setup is an Aharonov-Bohm (AB) interferometer consisting of two topological superconducting chains (TSCs) connected to two leads. We obtain the exact master equation as well as its solution and study the general properties of the real-time dynamics of the Majorana qubit states. The parity of the Majorana qubit state can be almost perfectly polarized by tuning the bias and can also be flipped by switching the sign of the cross couplings between the TSCs and the leads. Moreover, the qubit coherence shows a phase rigidity due to the intrinsic particle-hole symmetry of the Majorana AB interferometer, which is different from that in the double-quantum-dot AB interferometers without topological properties.

Phonon-induced anomalous gauge potential for photonic isolation in frequency space

Photonic gauge potentials are crucial for manipulating charge-neutral photons like their counterpart electrons in the electromagnetic field, allowing the analogous Aharonov–Bohm effect in photonics and paving the way for critical applications such as photonic isolation. Normally, a gauge potential exhibits phase inversion along two opposite propagation paths. Here we experimentally demonstrate phonon-induced anomalous gauge potentials with noninverted gauge phases in a spatial-frequency space, where near-phase-matched nonlinear Brillouin scatterings enable such unique direction-dependent gauge phases. Based on this scheme, we construct photonic isolators in the frequency domain permitting nonreciprocal propagation of light along the frequency axis, where coherent phase control in the photonic isolator allows switching completely the directionality through an Aharonov–Bohm interferometer. Moreover, similar coherent controlled unidirectional frequency conversions are also illustrated. These results may offer a unique platform for a compact, integrated solution to implement synthetic-dimension devices for on-chip optical signal processing.

Flux dependent current rectification in geometrically symmetric interconnected triple-dot Aharanov-Bohm interferometer

We propose and investigate a nonreciprocal performance of a triple-dot Aharonov-Bohm interferometer in the non-linear regime. We study the steady-state behavior of the nonequilibrium triple-dot Aharonov-Bohm (AB) interferometer using analytical tools and numerical simulations. Our simple setup includes noninteracting three quantum dots placed on the vertex of an equilateral triangle. Out of these three dots, two dots are coupled to two biased metallic leads at the same strength and the third one is connected with a probe that can mimics the elastic and inelastic scattering mechanisms. A magnetic flux Φ pierces the interferometer perpendicularly. We observe a magnetic-flux dependent current rectification induced by inelastic scattering by voltage probe in the nonlinear regime, but this rectification is absent in the linear regime. Our investigation reveals that the rectification for our 3-dots AB set up maximize when the inter-dot tunneling strength, t , matches with the hybridization strength, γ , between a dot and metallic lead. Downright, we can say that our study furnishes the working principles and rectification efficiency of a triple-dot AB interferometer. One can use this simple setup to design a nano-scale rectifier . • We demonstrate broken Onsager reciprocity relation in a triple dot Aharanov-Bohm interferometer model. • This exactly solvable model can unravel the interplay of quantum coherence and environmental decoherence effect.

Aharonov-Bohm effect in three-dimensional higher-order topological insulators

Hinge states are the hallmark of the 3D higher-order topological insulator(HOTI). Here, we show that chiral hinge states can be identified by the magnetic field induced Aharonov-Bohm(AB) oscillation of the electron conductance in the interferometer constructed by HOTI and normal metal. Unlike AB interferometer of 3D topological insulator(TI), we find that there are different AB oscillation frequencies for a given direction of magnetic field in 3D HOTI. And the oscillation frequencies are also strongly depending on the direction of magnetic field. The main conclusion in our work is that there exists a universal linear relation between different oscillation frequencies. Here, by constructing an interference model of hinge states loops, we show both analytically and numerically that the linear relation is fulfilled in the HOTI effective model. The four basic frequencies in the work are labeled as $\omega_x$, $\omega_y$, $\omega_{x+y}$, $\omega_{x-y}$ and the main linear relations we demonstrate here are $\omega_{x\pm y}=\omega_x \pm \omega_y$. These results provide an effective way for the identification of the chiral hinge states, and the oscillation signatures are stable with different sample size and bias.

Coherence and decoherence in the Harper-Hofstadter model

We quantum-simulated the 2D Harper-Hofstadter (HH) lattice model in a highly elongated tube geometry -- three sites in circumference -- using an atomic Bose-Einstein condensate. In addition to the usual transverse (out-of-plane) magnetic flux, piercing the surface of the tube, we threaded a longitudinal flux $\Phi_{\rm L}$ down the axis of the tube This geometry evokes an Aharonov-Bohm interferometer, where noise in $\Phi_{\rm L}$ would readily decohere the interference present in trajectories encircling the tube. We observe this behavior only when transverse flux is a rational fraction of the flux-quantum, and remarkably find that for irrational fractions the decoherence is absent. Furthermore, at rational values of transverse flux, we show that the time evolution averaged over the noisy longitudinal flux matches the time evolution at nearby irrational fluxes. Thus, the appealing intuitive picture of an Aharonov-Bohm interferometer is insufficient. Instead, we quantitatively explain our observations by transforming the HH model into a collection of momentum-space Aubry-Andr\'{e} models.

Spin and charge transport through a helical Aharonov-Bohm interferometer with a strong magnetic impurity

We discuss transport through an interferometer formed by helical edge states of the quantum spin Hall insulator. Focusing on effects induced by a strong magnetic impurity placed in one of the arms of interferometer, we consider the experimentally relevant case of relatively high temperature as compared to the level spacing. We obtain the conductance and the spin polarization in the closed form for arbitrary tunneling amplitude of the contacts and arbitrary strength of the magnetic impurity. We demonstrate the existence of quantum effects which do not show up in previously studied case of weak magnetic disorder. We find optimal conditions for spin filtering and demonstrate that the spin polarization of outgoing electrons can reach 100%.

Signatures of Majorana bound state in an Aharonov-Bohm interferometer embedded with quantum dot

Abstract We consider a ring geometry with a quantum dot (QD) embedded in one of its arms, which is coupled symmetrically to two normal leads and threaded by Aharonov-Bohm (AB) flux φ. The QD is coupled to a topological nanowire. Using scattering matrix method, the differential conductance and current cross correlation are investigated. By varying the external magnetic field strength and the coupling strength between the QD and Majorana bound state (MBS), the zero-bias conductance peak (ZBCP) will split and oscillate due to the overlapping of the two MBSs. Due to the sum rule in a pair of well-separated MBSs, the total differential conductance at zero bias voltage is quantized to 2e2/h. The total differential conductance and the current cross correlation show the periodicity of π with zero QD energy level and 2π with nonzero QD energy level.

Aharonov–Bohm oscillations and equilibrium current distributions in open quantum dot and in ring interferometer

Magnetotransport in two submicron-sized devices formed on the basis of GaAs/AlGaAs structures has been simulated using nonequilibrium Green functions. The effect of a perpendicular magnetic field on quantum transport in a quasi-one-dimensional quantum dot and in an Aharonov–Bohm interferometer has been analyzed in a single-particle approximation. Magnetic field oscillations of two-terminal conductance of the devices, equilibrium (persistent) current distributions and magnetic moment generated in the devices by persistent currents have been determined using numerical methods. Correlations between the magnetic moment, magnetic field oscillations of conductance and energy resonance in a specific magnetic field have been traced. Sufficiently regular conductance oscillations similar to Aharonov–Bohm ones have been revealed for a quasi-one-dimensional quantum dot at small magnetic fields (0.05–0.4 T). For a ring interferometer the contribution to the total equilibrium current and magnetic moment at a specific energy may change abruptly both in magnitude and in sign as a result of changing magnetic field within one Aharonov–Bohm oscillation. We show that the conductance of an interferometer is determined not by the number of modes propagating in the ring but rather by the effect of triangular quantum dots at the ring entrance that produce a strong reflection. The period of the calculated Aharonov–Bohm oscillations is in agreement with the measurement results for these devices.

Coherent transport through a Majorana island in an Aharonov\u2013Bohm interferometer

Majorana zero modes are leading candidates for topological quantum computation due to non-local qubit encoding and non-abelian exchange statistics. Spatially separated Majorana modes are expected to allow phase-coherent single-electron transport through a topological superconducting island via a mechanism referred to as teleportation. Here we experimentally investigate such a system by patterning an elongated epitaxial InAs-Al island embedded in an Aharonov-Bohm interferometer. With increasing parallel magnetic field, a discrete sub-gap state in the island is lowered to zero energy yielding persistent 1e-periodic Coulomb blockade conductance peaks (e is the elementary charge). In this condition, conductance through the interferometer is observed to oscillate in a perpendicular magnetic field with a flux period of h/e (h is Planck’s constant), indicating coherent transport of single electrons through the islands, a signature of electron teleportation via Majorana modes.

Nonequilibirum noise spectrum and Coulomb blockade assisted Rabi interference in a double-dot Aharonov-Bohm interferometer

We investigate the charge-states coherence underlying the nonequilibirum transport through a spinless double-dot Aharonov-Bohm (AB) interferometer. Both the current noise spectrum and real-time dynamics are evaluated with the well-established dissipaton-equation-of-motion method. The resulted spectrums show the characteristic peaks and dips, arising from coherent Rabi oscillation dynamics, with the environment-assisted indirect inter-dot tunnel coupling mechanism. The observed spectroscopic features are in a quantitative agreement to the real-time dynamics of the reduced density matrix off-diagonal element between two charge states. As the aforementioned mechanism, these characteristics of coherence are very sensitive to the AB phase. While this is generally true for cross-correlation spectrum, the total circuit noise spectrum that is experimentally more accessible shows remarkably rich interplay between various mechanisms. The most important finding of this work is the existence of Coulomb-blockade-assisted Rabi interference, with very distinct signatures arising from the interplay between the AB interferometer and the interdot Coulomb interaction induced Fano resonance.

Phonon-Assisted Transport through Double-Dot Aharonov-Bohm Interferometer in Kondo Regime

The effect of electron-phonon coupling on transport through a pair of strongly correlated quantum dots embedded in the Aharonov-Bohm ring is considered in the mean field slave boson Kotliar-Ruckenstein approach. It is shown that coupling with phonons opens transport gap in the region of double occupancy. Low-bias conductance and thermopower provide information on electron-phonon coupling strength.

Aharonov—Bohm oscillations and distributions of equilibrium current in open quantum dot and ring interferometer

Magnetotransport in submicron devices formed on the basis of GaAs/AlGaAs structures is simulated by the method of nonequilibrium Green functions. In the one-particle approximation, the influence of a perpendicular magnetic field on electron transmission through a quasi-one-dimensional quantum dot and the Aharonov—Bohm interferometer is considered. Two-terminal conductance and magnetic moment of the devices are calculated. Two-dimensional patterns of equilibrium (persistent) currents are obtained. The correlations between energy dependences of magnetic moment and conductance are considered. For the quasi-one-dimensional quantum dot, regular conductance oscillations similar to the ABOs were found at low magnetic fields (0.05—0.4 T). In the case of a ring interferometer, the contribution to the total equilibrium current and magnetic moment at a given energy can change sharply both in magnitude and in sign when the magnetic field changes within the same Aharonov—Bohm oscillation. The conductance through the interferometer is determined not by the number of propagating modes, but rather by the influence of triangular quantum dots at the entrances to the ring, causing back scattering. Period of calculated ABOs corresponds to that measured for these devices.

Efficient and tunable Aharonov-Bohm quantum heat engine

We propose a quantum heat engine based on an Aharonov-Bohm interferometer in a two-terminal geometry and investigate its thermoelectric performances in the linear response regime. Sizeable thermopower (up to $\ensuremath{\sim}0.3\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}\text{mV}$/K) as well as $ZT$ values largely exceeding unity can be achieved by simply adjusting parameters of the setup and temperature bias across the interferometer, leading to thermal efficiency at maximum power approaching $30%$ of the Carnot limit. This is close to the optimal efficiency at maximum power achievable for a two-terminal heat engine. Changing the magnetic flux, the asymmetry of the structure, a side-gate bias voltage through a capacitively coupled electrode, and the transmission of the T junctions connecting the AB ring to the contacts allows us to finely tune the operation of the quantum heat engine. The exploration of the parameters' space demonstrates that the high performances of the Aharonov-Bohm two-terminal device as a quantum heat engine are stable over a wide range of temperatures and length imbalances, promising for experimental realization.

Spin geometric phases in hopping magnetoconductance

We identify theoretically the geometric phases of the electrons' spin that can be detected in measurements of charge and spin transport through Aharonov-Bohm interferometers threaded by a magnetic flux $\Phi$ (in units of the flux quantum) in which both the Rashba spin-orbit and Zeeman interactions are active. We show that the combined effect of these two interactions is to produce a $\sin(\Phi)$ [in addition to the usual $\cos(\Phi)$] dependence of the magnetoconductance, whose amplitude is proportional to the Zeeman field. Therefore the magnetoconductance, though an even function of the magnetic field is not a periodic function of it, and the widely-used concept of a phase shift in the Aharonov-Bohm oscillations, as indicated in previous work, is not applicable. We find the directions of the spin-polarizations in the system, and show that in general the spin currents are not conserved, implying the generation of magnetization in the terminals attached to the interferometer.