Collective charge density wave motion through an ensemble of Aharonov-Bohm rings

Theoretical Physics Group, Department of Applied Physics/DIMES, Delft University of Technology - Lorentzweg 1, 2628 CJ Delft, The Netherlands

Received: 27 April 1998
Accepted: 15 July 1998

Abstract

We theoretically investigate the collective charge density wave motion through an ensemble of small disordered Aharonov-Bohm rings. It is shown that the magnetic flux modulates the threshold field and the magnetoresistance with a half-flux quantum periodicity , resulting from ensemble averaging over random scattering phases of multiple rings. The magnitude of the magnetoresistance oscillations decreases rapidly with increasing bias. This is consistent with recent experiments on in presence of columnar defects (Phys. Rev. Lett., 78 (1997) 919).