Aharonov-Bohm oscillations in disordered nanorings with quantum dots: Effect of electron-electron interactions

TL;DR

This paper studies how electron-electron interactions in disordered nanorings with quantum dots suppress Aharonov-Bohm oscillations through dephasing, with effects depending on ring size and temperature.

Contribution

It provides a theoretical analysis of electron-electron interaction effects on AB oscillations, highlighting the role of dephasing and ring perimeter in quantum coherence loss.

Findings

Electron-electron interactions suppress AB oscillation amplitude at all temperatures.

Dephasing crossover is controlled by the ring perimeter.

Predictions are testable in future experiments.

Abstract

We investigate the effect of electron-electron interactions on Aharonov-Bohm (AB) current oscillations in nanorings formed by a chain of metallic quantum dots. We demonstrate that electron-electron interactions cause electron dephasing thereby suppressing the amplitude of AB oscillations at all temperatures down to T=0. The crossover between thermal and quantum dephasing is found to be controlled by the ring perimeter. Our predictions can be directly tested in future experiments.