Aharonov-Casher effect in a two dimensional hole gas with spin-orbit interaction

TL;DR

This paper investigates the Aharonov-Casher effect in a two-dimensional heavy hole system with spin-orbit interaction, revealing unique conductance modulation behaviors and the impact of magnetic fields, with analytical insights into quantum interference phenomena.

Contribution

It provides analytical analysis of Aharonov-Casher interference in heavy hole systems, highlighting differences from electron Rashba systems and effects of quantum confinement.

Findings

Conductance modulation frequency increases with spin-orbit strength.

Radial quantization enhances spin-orbit splitting in narrow channels.

Magnetic field influences interference depending on Zeeman splitting.

Abstract

We study the quantum interference effects induced by the Aharonov-Casher phase in a ring structure in a two-dimensional heavy hole (HH) system with spin-orbit interaction realizable in narrow asymmetric quantum wells. The influence of the spin-orbit interaction strength on the transport is investigated analytically. These analytical results allow us to explain the interference effects as a signature of the Aharonov-Casher Berry phases. Unlike previous studies on the electron two-dimensional Rashba systems, we find that the frequency of conductance modulations as a function of the spin-orbit strength is not constant but increases for larger spin-orbit splittings. In the limit of thin channel rings (width smaller than Fermi wavelength), we find that the spin-orbit splitting can be greatly increased due to quantization in the radial direction. We also study the influence of magnetic field considering both limits of small and large Zeeman splittings.