title: Size effects in Aharonov-Bohm graphene rings.
abstract: Aharonov-Bohm (AB) effects in mesoscopic metal rings have been extensively studied. In this paper, we investigate these effects on the persistent currents (PCs) in a closed graphene ring with broken time-reversal symmetry. A hard boundary condition is introduced to describe the Dirac electrons moving along such a ring-shaped configuration, and then the induced persistent currents are numerically calculated. Differing from the properties of PCs revealed in the metal AB rings, we show that the present PCs neither show the regular saw-tooth-like features nor present the odd-even symmetry of the electron number. More interestingly, we show that the energy difference between the two valleys and the amplitude of the oscillating PCs increase with the decrease (increase) of the radius (width) of the graphene ring. Our results imply that the AB effect and size-dependent PCs in ring-shaped microstructures could be tested at room temperature.
authors.affiliation: Quantum Optoelectronics Laboratory, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Cong-Hua
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.forename: Lian-Fu
authors.initials: LF
authors.lastname: Wei