Is the magnetic field necessary for the Aharonov-Bohm effect in mesoscopics?

TL;DR

This paper predicts a new topological mesoscopic phenomenon where Aharonov-Bohm-like oscillations occur without an external magnetic field, driven by nuclear spin populations and spin-orbit interactions in GaAs/AlGaAs rings.

Contribution

It introduces a novel mechanism for Aharonov-Bohm-like effects that do not require magnetic fields, based on nuclear spin populations and spin-orbit coupling.

Findings

Aharonov-Bohm-like oscillations can occur without external magnetic fields.

Persistent currents oscillate in time due to nuclear spin and spin-orbit effects.

Topologically nontrivial nuclear spin states enable new mesoscopic phenomena.

Abstract

A new class of topological mesoscopic phenomena in absence of external magnetic field (meso-nucleo-spinics)is predicted, which is based on combined action of the nonequilibrium nuclear spin population and charge carriers spin-orbit interaction . As an example, we show that Aharonov-Bohm like oscillations of the persistent current in GaAs/AlGaAs based mesoscopic rings may exist, in the absence of the external magnetic field, provided that a topologically nontrivial strongly nonequilibrium nuclear spin population is created. This phenomenon is due to the breaking, via the spin-orbit coupling, of the clock wise - anti clock wise symmetry of the charge carriers momentum, which results in the oscillatory in time persistent current.