Spin and impurity effects on flux-periodic oscillations in core-shell nanowires

Abstract

We study the quantum mechanical states of electrons situated on a cylindrical surface of finite axial length to model a semiconductor core-shell nanowire. We calculate the conductance in the presence of a longitudinal magnetic field by weakly coupling the cylinder to semi-infinite leads. Spin effects are accounted for through Zeeman coupling and Rashba spin-orbit interaction (SOI). Emphasis is on manifestations of flux-periodic (FP) oscillations and we show how factors such as impurities, contact geometry and spin affect them. Oscillations survive and remain periodic in the presence of impurities, noncircular contacts and SOI, while Zeeman splitting results in aperiodicity, beating patterns and additional background fluctuations. Our results are in qualitative agreement with recent magnetotransport experiments performed on GaAs/InAs core-shell nanowires. Lastly, we propose methods of data analysis for detecting the presence of Rashba SOI in core-shell systems and for estimating the electron g-factor in the shell.

13 pages, 9 figures

References in corpus (3)

• Strong tuning of Rashba spin orbit interaction in single InAs nanowires
• Spin states and persistent currents in mesoscopic rings: spin-orbit interactions
• Magnetic states in prismatic core multishell nanowires

Cited by in corpus (5)

• Aharonov-Bohm oscillations and electron gas transitions in hexagonal core-shell nanowires with an axial magnetic field
• Signature of snaking states in the conductance of core-shell nanowires
• Coulomb Blockade from the Shell of an InP-InAs Core-Shell Nanowire with a Triangular Cross Section
• Spin-polarized dynamic transport in tubular two-dimensional electron gases
• Aharonov-Bohm and Altshuler-Aronov-Spivak oscillations in the quasi-ballistic regime in phase-pure GaAs/InAs core/shell nanowires