PROCEEDINGS OF THE YEREVAN STATE UNIVERSITY

Physical and Mathematical Sciences 2011, № 1, p. 44–48

Physics

INVESTIGATION OF THE ELECTRIC AHARONOV–BOHM EFFECT

IN A QUANTUM RING

A. V. GHAZARYAN ∗

Chair of Solid State Physics, YSU

The bound states of the electron in a quantum ring in the presence of different
scalar potentials in two regions are considered. It is shown that the difference of
scalar potentials lifts the degeneracy connected with the sign of orbital angular
momentum. The same system with a magnetic flux threading the ring is also
considered. The possibility of observing the oscillations of energy levels
connected with the difference of scalar potentials and the intensity of the magnetic
field that are similar to those of the bound states of the electron in a quantum ring
threaded only by the magnetic flux is shown.
Keywords: quantum ring, electric Aharonov–Bohm effect, magnetic
Aharonov-Bohm effect.

1. Introduction. The original Aharonov–Bohm (AB) effect has a purely

quantum mechanical nature showing the important role of the vector and scalar
potentials [1]. Although in the original paper by Aharonov and Bohm [1], the
electric and magnetic AB effects have been discussed, up to now the majority of
both theoretical and experimental works done dealt with the magnetic AB effect.
There are only few experimental verifications [2, 3] of the electric AB effect in
comparison with the magnetic one. The magnetic bound state AB effect in a
quantum ring was considered in the review article [4], and it was shown that the
energy levels of charged particle oscillate with magnetic flux Φ = π r02 B , if the
particle orbits surround an infinitely long solenoid with small radius r0 , where the
magnetic field B is concentrated. The magnetic AB effect in a quantum ring was
experimentally verified in mesoscopic metal ring [2], carbon nanotubes [5] and
doped semiconductor InAs/GaAs nanorings [6].
The aim of the present work is to consider the quantum ring in the presence
of different scalar potentials in two regions and describe the motion of the electron
inside the ring as a plane wave. This setting does not fully represent those
described in the original work by Aharonov and Bohm for general case, because
for such a ring the electron interacts with the electric field due to the difference of
the potentials. The development of this work will be considering a wave packet,
which moves in a quantum ring with time varying scalar potentials in such a way,
that the interaction with the electric field is considerably small.
                                                            
∗
E-mail: [email protected]
Proc. of the Yerevan State Univ. Phys. and Mathem. Sci., 2011, № 1, p. 44–48. 45

2. Theory. Consider a quantum ring that is divided into four regions (Fig. 1, a).
In two regions (II and IV) there are two different scalar potentials V1 and V2 , which
create electric fields in two other regions (I and III) with 2σ arc length (each arc
having the corresponding central angle 2ϕ0 ).
II II
a V1 b V1

ϕ0 Φ ϕ0
III σ σ I X III σ σ I X
V3 (ϕ ) σ σ V (ϕ ) V (ϕ ) σ r0 σ V (ϕ )
R 1 3
R 1

V2 IV V2 IV
Y Y
Fig. 1. The electric quantum ring (the electric fields created by the potentials V1 and V2 exist in the
regions I and III with arc length 2σ): a) without magnetic flux; b) with the magnetic flux (magnetic
field is parallel to Z-direction).

The appropriate electric fields and scalar potentials in the regions I and III are
described by the following expressions:
(V − V ) V +V
V1 (ϕ ) = 1 2 ϕ + 1 2 , −ϕ0 ≤ ϕ ≤ ϕ0 , (1)
2ϕ0 2
(V − V ) (π + ϕ0 )V1 − (π − ϕ0 )V2
V3 (ϕ ) = 2 1 ϕ + , π − ϕ0 ≤ ϕ ≤ π + ϕ0 . (2)
2ϕ0 2ϕ0
Using the obtained expressions for scalar potentials for four regions and solving the
Schrödinger equation in each region (by introducing the dimensionless units
ρ = R aB , v1 = V1 ER , v2 = V2 ER , ε = E ER , where aB and ER are effective
Bohr radius and Rydberg energy respectively), we obtain the following expressions
for the wave function in each region:
⎛ ⎛ ρ 2 (v − v ) ⎞1/ 3 ⎛ ϕ0 (2ε − (v1 + v2 )) ⎞ ⎞⎟
Ψ 1 (ϕ ) = C1 Ai ⎜ ⎜ 1 2
⎟ ⎜ϕ + ⎟ +
⎜⎝ 2ϕ0 ⎠ ⎝ (v2 − v1 ) ⎠ ⎟⎠
⎝
(3)
⎛ ⎛ ρ 2 (v − v ) ⎞1/ 3 ⎛ ϕ0 (2ε − (v1 + v2 )) ⎞ ⎟⎞
+ C2 Bi ⎜ ⎜ 1 2
⎟ ⎜ϕ + ⎟ ,
⎜⎝ 2ϕ0 ⎠ ⎝ (v2 − v1 ) ⎠ ⎟⎠
⎝
( ) (
Ψ 2 (ϕ ) = C3 exp i ρ ε − v1ϕ + C4 exp −i ρ ε − v1ϕ , ) (4)

⎛ ⎛ ρ 2 (v − v ) ⎞1/ 3 ⎛ 2ϕ0 (ε − v1 ) ⎞⎞
Ψ 3 (ϕ ) = C5 Ai ⎜ ⎜ 1 2
⎟ ⎜ ϕ + − π + ϕ ⎟
0⎟ +
⎜⎝ 2ϕ0 ⎠ ⎝ (v1 − v2 ) ⎠ ⎟
⎝ ⎠
(5)
⎛ ⎛ ρ 2 (v − v ) ⎞1/ 3 ⎛ 2ϕ0 (ε − v1 ) ⎞⎞
+ C6 Bi ⎜ ⎜ 1 2
⎟ ⎜ϕ + − π + ϕ0 ⎟ ⎟ ,
⎜⎝ 2ϕ0 ⎠ ⎝ (v1 − v2 ) ⎠ ⎟⎠
⎝
46 Proc. of the Yerevan State Univ. Phys. and Mathem. Sci., 2011, № 1, p. 44–48.

( ) (
Ψ 4 (ϕ ) = C7 exp i ρ ε − v2 ϕ + C8 exp −i ρ ε − v2 ϕ , ) (6)
where Ai (ϕ ) and Bi (ϕ ) are linearly independent Airy functions [7].
In order to find the energy levels of electron in this system, we should
impose boundary conditions and the condition of the singlevaluedness on these
wave functions. The corresponding conditions are:
Ψ 1 (ϕ0 ) =Ψ 2 (ϕ0 ), Ψ 1′(ϕ0 ) =Ψ 2′ (ϕ0 ),
Ψ 2 (π − ϕ0 ) =Ψ 3 (π − ϕ0 ), Ψ 2′ (π − ϕ0 ) =Ψ 3′ (π − ϕ0 ),
(7)
Ψ 3 (π + ϕ0 ) =Ψ 4 (π + ϕ0 ), Ψ 3′ (π + ϕ0 ) =Ψ 4′ (π + ϕ0 ),
Ψ 4 (2π − ϕ0 ) =Ψ 1 (−ϕ0 ), Ψ 4′ (2π − ϕ0 ) =Ψ 1′(−ϕ0 ).
Consider now the same problem in the case when the ring is threaded by a
magnetic flux (Fig. 1, b) having a smaller radius than the ring (the magnetic field
B is parallel to the Z-direction). We can make gauge transformation in each region
and map the problem with magnetic flux to the problem without flux
⎛ Φ ⎞
Ψ flux (ϕ ) =Ψ (ϕ ) exp ⎜ −i ϕ⎟, (8)
⎝ Φ0 ⎠
where Φ 0 = hc e is a magnetic flux quantum. Using Eq. (3)–(6) and (8) it is easy
to get the expression for wave functions in each region. Using the same conditions
as in Eq. (7), we will obtain the energy levels of electron in the ring for this case.
3. Results and Discussion. In Fig. 2 the dependences of the electron energy
in the electric quantum ring on the ring radius R (a) and scalar potential V2 (b) are
presented.

b
a

Fig. 2. The electron energy versus the ring radius (a) and the scalar potential V2 (b).

As is seen in Fig. 2, a, the excited energy levels show the dependence on the
ring radius that is similar to the 1/ R 2 dependence for 1D quantum ring and only
the ground state (1) shows different behavior and does not go to infinity when
R → 0 . In order to understand this, let us see that the difference of the scalar
potentials in quantum ring is somehow similar to the 1D quantum well, which
besides that also has 2π periodicity because of the quantum ring geometry. When
R → ∞ the role of the 2π periodicity strongly diminishes and the energy levels
tend to the levels of the single quantum well. When R → 0 the quantum ring
Proc. of the Yerevan State Univ. Phys. and Mathem. Sci., 2011, № 1, p. 44–48. 47

structure plays more important role, than the existence of the quantum well in it.
Because of that, in R → 0 limit the dependence of energy levels on ring radius is
described mainly by 1/ R 2 dependence of 1D quantum ring without any scalar
potentials. But this is not true for the state with l = 0 angular momentum, because
this state has zero energy in 1D quantum ring without scalar potentials. Because of
that the ground state (which is the level with l = 0 ) in the presence of scalar
potentials is mainly influenced by the quantum well energy even for R → 0 . And
for this reason the ground state tends to a finite value at R → 0 . It should be noted
that due to the quantum ring structure the energy tends to half the quantum well
depth (rather than the full quantum well depth, which is the case for a single
quantum well).
As is seen in Fig. 2, b, the difference of scalar potentials lifts the degene-
racy of the levels connected with the sign of orbital angular momentum. This is
similar to the case of magnetic ring, where the magnetic flux also lifts the
degeneracy of l .

a b

Fig. 3. The dependence of the energy levels on the difference of scalar potentials for different values
of the magnetic flux: a) F=0.2; b) F=0.5.

In Fig. 3 the dependences of the energy levels on scalar potential V2 for

different values of the magnetic flux parameter F = Φ Φ 0 are presented. As is
seen in Fig. 3, the magnetic flux changes the dependence of the energy levels
dramatically. When V2 = 0 the energy levels are not degenerate, because of the
lifting of degeneracy by the magnetic flux. But in Fig. 3, b the degeneracy for
V2 = 0 is again seen and later the difference of scalar potentials again lifts the
degeneracy. This is easy to understand from the expression of the energy levels for
a magnetic ring case [4, 8]
=2
E flux = (l + F ) 2 . (9)
2mR 2
As is seen from Eq. (9), the energy levels will be degenerate also for cases
l = n and l = − n − 1 when F = 0.5 . And this is the degeneracy observed in Fig. 3, b
for V2 = 0 case, and further, as in Fig. 2, the difference between scalar potentials
again lifts this degeneracy. In Fig. 3, b one may observe also another intersection
for V2 = 2.953ER for the third and fourth energy levels. This is somewhat similar to
48 Proc. of the Yerevan State Univ. Phys. and Mathem. Sci., 2011, № 1, p. 44–48.

the magnetic ring case, where the oscillations of the energy levels on magnetic flux
are observed, although here the oscillations of the degeneracy of the levels are
observed and not the oscillations of the dependence on the difference of scalar
potentials. This is due to the fact that
the electron interacts with the field
and the energy of the electron should
increase as the difference of scalar
potentials is increased. This again
gives us the reason to consider the
electric quantum ring with time
varying scalar potential, where the
electron (wave packet) does not
interact with the field and the normal
oscillations are to be observed. The
dependence of energy levels on mag-
Fig. 4. The dependence of the energy levels on netic flux shown in Fig. 4 also
magnetic flux.
demonstrates the usual oscillations
seen in case of magnetic ring.
4. Conclusion. In this work we have shown that electric AB effect in
quantum ring deserves as much interest as the magnetic AB effect. The difference
of the scalar potentials lifts the degeneracy of the levels, connected with the sign of
the angular momentum in similar manner as the magnetic flux in the magnetic ring
case. The investigation of the electric ring with magnetic flux inside has shown that
magnetic flux changes the dependences of the energy levels dramatically.
However, the settings of the ring used in this work do not fully demonstrate the
features of electric AB effect, because the electron interacts with the field. To have
the full analog of a magnetic ring for the electric AB effect, it is suggested to
consider a wave packet with time varying scalar potentials, so as small interaction
with the field be provided.
I thank Prof. A. Kirakosyan and Dr. A. Djotyan for help in the course of this
work.
Received 28.10.2010

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