Persistent currents in diffusive metallic cavities: Large values and anomalous scaling with disorder

Abstract

The effect of disorder on confined metallic cavities with an Aharonov-Bohm flux line is addressed. We find that, even deep in the diffusive regime, large values of persistent currents may arise for a wide variety of geometries. We present numerical results supporting an anomalous scaling law of the average typical current $<I_{typ}>$ with the strength of disorder $w$, $<I_{typ}>\sim w^{-\gamma }$ with $\gamma <2$. This is contrasted with previously reported results obtained for cylindrical samples where a scaling $<I_{typ}>\sim w^{-2}$ has been found. Possible links to, up to date, unexplained experimental data are finally discussed.

5 pages, 4 figures

References in corpus (3)

• Persistent Current in Normal Metals
• Square billiard with a magnetic flux
• Enhancement of persistent currents due to confinement in metallic samples