Permanent magnetic moment in mesoscopic metals with spin-orbit interaction

Abstract

We argue that at zero temperature an isolated metal particle (or an AB ring) with spin-orbit interaction and odd number of electrons will have a permanent magnetic moment, even in zero magnetic field (flux). In a zero-field-cooled state both the direction and the magnitude of the moment varies from particle to particle and averages to zero. In a field-cooled state it averages to $\sim {\mu }_B(k_F\ell {)}^{1/2}$. We argue that the permanent moment is due to an uncompensated electron in the last occupied (Fermi) level. We introduce an effective single-electron Hamiltonian which accounts for spin-orbit coupling.

4 pages

References in corpus (3)

• The g-factors of discrete levels in nanoparticles
• Fluctuating spin g-tensor in small metal grains
• VanVleck Response Of A Two-Level System And Mesoscopic Orbital Magnetism Of Small Metals

Cited by in corpus (2)

• g-Factors and Discrete Energy Level Velocities in Nanoparticles
• Mesoscopic Fluctuations Of Orbital Magnetic Response In Level-Quantized Metals