Abstract
Mesoscopic or macromolecular conducting rings with a fixed number of electrons are shown to support persistent currents due to the Aharonov-Bohm flux, and the “spontaneous” persistent currents without the flux when structural transformation in the ring is blocked by strong coupling to the externally azimuthal-symmetric environment. In the free-standing macromolecular ring, symmetry breaking removes the azimuthal periodicity, which is further restored at the increasing field, however. The dynamics of the Aharonov-Bohm loop in crossed electric and magnetic fields is investigated within the tight-binding approximation; we show that transitions between discrete quantum states occur when static voltage pulses of prescribed duration are applied to the loop. In particular, the three-site ring with one or three electrons is an interesting quantum system that can serve as a qubit (quantum bit of information) and a qugate (quantum logical gate) because in the presence of an externally applied static electric field perpendicular to a magnetic field, the macromolecular ring switches between degenerate ground states mimicking the NOT and Hadamard gates of quantum computers.
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From Zhurnal Éksperimental’no\(\overset{\lower0.5em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\smile}$}}{l}\) i Teoretichesko\(\overset{\lower0.5em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\smile}$}}{l}\) Fiziki, Vol. 128, No. 6, 2005, pp. 1145–1155.
Original English Text Copyright © 2005 by Kulik.
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Kulik, I.O. Spontaneous and persistent currents in mesoscopic Aharonov-Bohm loops: Static properties and coherent dynamic behavior in crossed electric and magnetic fields. J. Exp. Theor. Phys. 101, 999–1008 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1134/1.2163917
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/1.2163917