Direct observation of the Aharonov-Casher phase

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. W...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Physical review letters 2006-02, Vol.96 (7), p.076804-076804, Article 076804
Main Authors: König, M, Tschetschetkin, A, Hankiewicz, E M, Sinova, Jairo, Hock, V, Daumer, V, Schäfer, M, Becker, C R, Buhmann, H, Molenkamp, L W
Format: Article
Language:English
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Summary: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.
ISSN:0031-9007
1079-7114
DOI:10.1103/physrevlett.96.076804