The distribution of equilibrium magnetization currents in systems with dimensional quantization in a finite magnetic field

Abstract

The distribution of equilibrium magnetization currents in two-dimensional bounded systems placed in an external magnetic field is studied. A half-plane, a quantum disk, and a wide quantum ring are considered. The passage from classical to quantizing magnetic fields is investigated. The edge currents near the boundary of the half-plane are shown to experience damped (far from the boundaries) spatial oscillations related to the Fermi electron wavelength. The region occupied by currents was found to narrow with increasing field. Apart from these oscillations, the current contains a component that smoothly changes with distance but oscillationally depends on the position of the Fermi level relative to the Landau levels. The suppression of the oscillations by temperature is studied. The spatial distribution of the current in a circular disk and a ring is shown to significantly depend on the position of the Fermi level.