# Measurements of flux dependent screening in Aharonov-Bohm rings

When an electric field E is applied to an isolated metallic sample, electron screening gives rise to an induced dipole d. In the linear response regime :

$$𝐝=\alpha 𝐄$$
(1)   
where $`\alpha `$ is the electric polarizability. For a sample of typical size $`a`$ much larger than the Thomas-Fermi screening length $`\lambda _s`$, $`\alpha `$ is essentially determined by geometry, with a negative correction of the order of $`\lambda _s/a`$ . The measurement of $`\alpha `$ gives information on the way electrons screen an external electric field. At the mesoscopic scale, when phase coherence through the sample is achieved (i.e. the phase coherence length is of the same order as the typical size of the system) electronic properties are sensitive to the phase of the electronic wave functions, which can be tuned by an Aharonov-Bohm flux in a ring geometry . It has been recently suggested that screening of an electric field may be sensitive to this phase coherence, leading to a flux dependent mesoscopic correction to polarizability . In particular the polarizability of an Aharonov-Bohm ring is expected to exhibit oscillations as a function of the magnetic flux.

We have inferred the electrical response of an array of rings from the flux dependence of the capacitance $`C`$, placed underneath the rings, of an RF superconducting micro-resonator(Fig 1, left inset). This experiment has been checked to be only sensitive to the electrical response of the rings . $`C`$ is modified by the non dissipative response $`\alpha ^{^{}}`$ of the rings :

$$\frac{\delta C}{C}=kN_s\alpha ^{^{}}$$
(2)   
where $`N_s`$ is the number of rings coupled to the resonator and $`k`$ the electric coupling coefficient between a ring and the capacitance, which only depends on geometry. Since the resonance frequency $`f=1/(2\pi \sqrt{LC})`$, with $`L`$ the inductance of the resonator, the change in $`C`$ shifts the resonance frequency. In addition the dissipative response $`\alpha ^{^{\prime \prime }}`$ of the rings weakens the quality factor $`Q`$ :

$$\frac{\delta f}{f}=\frac{1}{2}kN_s\alpha ^{^{}}(\omega ),\delta (\frac{1}{Q})=kN_s\alpha ^{^{\prime \prime }}(\omega )$$
(3)   
In order to measure $`\delta f`$ and $`\delta Q`$, the RF frequency is modulated at 100 kHz. Using lock-in detection, the reflected signal from the resonator at the modulated RF frequency is measured and used to lock the experimental setup on the resonance frequency. The feedback signal is then proportional to the variation of $`f`$, whereas the signal at double the modulation frequency is proportional to the variation of $`Q`$. We are careful to inject sufficiently low power ($`10pW`$) so as not to heat the sample. The signal is measured as a function of magnetic field. To improve accuracy, the derivative of the signal is also detected by modulating at 30 Hz a magnetic field of 1 Gauss amplitude. Our precision with this setup is $`\delta f/f=10^8`$ and $`\delta Q/Q=10^8`$.

The rings are etched in a high-mobility GaAs-AlGaAs heterojunction. Etching strongly decreases the conductivity of the rings, but the nominal conductivity is recovered by illuminating the sample with an infrared diode . We have checked this on a connected sample. The characteristics of the rings, deduced from transport measurements on wires of the same width etched in the same heterojunction, are the following : at nominal electronic density ($`n_e=3.10^{11}`$cm<sup>-2</sup>) the mean free path $`l_e=3\mu `$m, the etched width is 0.5 $`\mu `$m whereas the effective width $`W=`$0.2 $`\mu `$m (estimated from weak localization experiments ) is much smaller due to depletion, the coherence length is $`L_\mathrm{\Phi }=5.5\mu `$m and the effective perimeter $`L=`$5.2 $`\mu `$m. The rings are thus ballistic in the transverse direction and diffusive longitudinally. The mean level spacing $`\mathrm{\Delta }=h^2/(2\pi mWL)80`$ mK $`1.66`$ GHz and the Thouless energy $`E_c=hD/L^2=450`$ mK, with $`D`$ the diffusion coefficient and $`m`$ the effective mass of electrons. The Thomas-Fermi screening length is $`\lambda _s=\pi a^{}/2=16`$ nm, with $`a^{}`$ the effective Bohr radius. There are $`N=10^5`$ rings on one sample. The resonator is made by optical lithography in niobium on a sapphire substrate. The length of the capacitance is $`l=20.5`$ cm and the inductance is 5 cm long. It has a single resonance frequency $`f_0=385`$ MHz and a quality factor of 10 000. The distance between the capacitance and the inductance is 300 $`\mu `$m. A 0.9 $`\mu `$m thick mylar film is inserted between the detector and the ring substrate in order to reduce inhomogeneities of the magnetic field due to the Meissner effect in the vicinity of the superconducting resonator. The system constituted by the resonator and the sample has a reduced quality factor of 3000, probably to dielectric losses in the GaAs substrate, and a resonance frequency of 350 MHz. The system is cooled in a dilution refrigerator down to 18 mK.

The typical field dependence of the rings contribution to $`\delta f/f`$ is shown on figure 1. This signal is superimposed on the diamagnetic response of the niobium resonator (Fig 1, right inset) which we substract in the following way : the base line of the derivative of the resonance frequency is removed and the signal is then integrated. One thus obtains the curves of figures 1 and 2, which are directly proportional to the flux dependence of the polarizability of the rings. The resonance frequency is periodic in field with a period of 12.5 G which corresponds to half a flux quantum $`\mathrm{\Phi }_0/2=h/2e`$ in a ring, consistent with an Aharonov-Bohm effect averaged over many rings . The resonance frequency decreases by about 100Hz between 0 and 6 G. The magnetic field reduces the amplitude of the oscillations, which cannot be detected for a field higher than 40 G, consistent with the finite width of the ring. Illuminating the sample with the electroluminescent diode strongly affects the measured signal. At low illumination the amplitude of the oscillations increases and decreases at higher illuminations (see Fig 3). The extremum amplitude of $`\delta _\mathrm{\Phi }f/f=(f(\mathrm{\Phi }=\mathrm{\Phi }_0/4)f(\mathrm{\Phi }=0))/f`$, is $`\mathrm{2.8\hspace{0.17em}10}^7`$. In our geometry one has :

$$k=\frac{1}{\pi ϵ_0ϵald}\frac{\mathrm{ln}(\frac{d+a}{da})}{\mathrm{ln}(\frac{d}{r})}$$
(4)   
with the relative dielectric constant of GaAs $`ϵ=12.85`$, the size of the rings $`a=1.3\mu `$m, the length of the capacitance $`l=20.5`$ cm, the distance between one lead of the capacitance and a ring $`d/23.15\mu `$m and the width of the lead $`r=1\mu `$m. Since all the rings are not identically coupled to the resonator, $`k`$ has to be understood as an average capacitive coupling between one ring an the capacitance. Note that approximatively half the rings are well coupled to the capacitance. Because of these approximations the experimental value is given with a $`50\%`$ error range. One obtains $`\delta _\mathrm{\Phi }\alpha ^{}/\alpha _{1D}=\mathrm{0.7\hspace{0.17em}10}^3`$, where $`\alpha _{1D}=ϵ_0\pi ^2R^3/\mathrm{ln}(R/W)`$ is the polarizability of a quasi one dimensional (quasi-1D) circular ring of radius R.

The dissipative part of the polarizability is obtained from the field dependence of $`Q`$ at different illuminations (Fig 2). It exhibits a periodic behavior with the same period as the resonance frequency. At low illumination $`1/Q`$ decreases with magnetic field for small field whereas at higher illumination a dip in the zero field region, which is not understood, appears indicating an increase of $`1/Q`$ with field. The typical amplitude of $`\delta _\mathrm{\Phi }(1/Q)`$ is $`10^7`$, hence $`\delta _\mathrm{\Phi }\alpha ^{^{\prime \prime }}/\alpha _{1D}=\mathrm{1.3\hspace{0.17em}10}^4`$.

The sensitivity of the electrostatic properties of mesoscopic systems to quantum coherence has been emphasized by Büttiker for connected geometries . The phase coherent correction to the polarizability of isolated systems has been recently theoretically investigated. Efetov found that it is possible to relate self consistently this correction to the flux dependence of the screened potential . Noat et al. calculated this effect in the diffusive regime  and found no flux correction in the canonical ensemble. In the grand canonical (GC) ensemble no effect is predicted if the RF pulsation $`\omega `$ is much smaller than the inverse relaxation time $`\gamma `$. However when $`\omega \gamma `$ the correction to the polarizability is positive. In particular for quasi-1D rings, one has :

$$\frac{\delta _\mathrm{\Phi }\alpha ^{^{}}}{\alpha _{1D}}=\frac{ϵ}{16\pi ^2\mathrm{ln}(R/W)}\frac{\mathrm{\Delta }}{E_c}\frac{\lambda _s}{W}$$
(5)   
Using supersymmetry techniques Blanter and Mirlin essentially confirmed these results . Since the rings in our experiment are completely isolated, the results concerning the canonical ensemble, in which the effect is predicted to be zero or very small, should apply. However our experiment shows unambiguously a decrease of the resonance frequency as we increase the magnetic field at low field : this corresponds to a positive magneto-polarizability. The GC result (eq. 5) leads to $`\delta _\mathrm{\Phi }\alpha ^{^{}}/\alpha _{1D}=\mathrm{0.8\hspace{0.17em}10}^3`$, which is close to the experimental value. Therefore the value and the sign of the effect are consistent with rings considered in the GC case in the limit $`\gamma \omega `$. This discrepancy can be related to an ensemble averaging intermediate between canonical and GC, a situation called GC-canonical by Kamenev and Gefen  : if the system is brought to a GC equilibrium at a certain value of the magnetic flux and then submitted to a time dependent flux whose time scale is faster than the particle equilibration time the response of the system can be identical to the GC case in the limit $`\gamma \omega `$. Another possibility is that the mathematical cancellation responsible for the absence of magneto-polarizability in the canonical ensemble disappears when one does not have the condition $`\omega \mathrm{\Delta }`$.

We find that the polarizability is greater in a magnetic field than in zero field. This can be related to the flux dependence of screening within a simple model in which the Thomas-Fermi screening length is flux dependent. As the correction to the polarizability due to screening is negative and of the order of $`\lambda _s/a`$, an increase of polarizability corresponds to a decrease of the screening length. Hence the charges are more concentrated on the edges of the sample in the presence of a magnetic flux. This phenomenon has to be related to the disappearance of weak localization and thus enhancement of the metallic character of the sample in the presence of a magnetic field.

Concerning the quality factor our result are, at least for the small electronic density, in agreement with what is predicted for the dissipative part of the magneto-polarizability . For low magnetic field we observe a negative $`\delta _\mathrm{\Phi }(1/Q)`$ which corresponds to a negative $`\delta _\mathrm{\Phi }\alpha ^{^{\prime \prime }}`$ according to (2). The measured ratio $`\delta _\mathrm{\Phi }\alpha ^{^{\prime \prime }}/\delta _\mathrm{\Phi }\alpha ^{^{}}=0.29`$ for the illumination 0. Note that this ratio does not depend on the electric coupling coefficient and hence can be determined with a good accuracy. When $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ is less than the temperature, $`\delta _\mathrm{\Phi }\alpha ^{^{\prime \prime }}/\delta _\mathrm{\Phi }\alpha ^{^{}}`$ is related to the level spacing distributions function  which obeys universal rules of random matrix theory  :

$$\frac{\delta _\mathrm{\Phi }\alpha ^{^{\prime \prime }}}{\delta _\mathrm{\Phi }\alpha ^{^{}}}=\frac{2\pi \omega }{\mathrm{\Delta }}(R^{GUE}(\frac{\pi \omega }{\mathrm{\Delta }})R^{GOE}(\frac{\pi \omega }{\mathrm{\Delta }}))$$
(6)   
$`R^{GUE}`$ is the two level correlation function in the gaussian unitary ensemble and $`R^{GOE}`$ in the gaussian orthogonal ensemble. This formula is valid in the limit $`\gamma \omega `$ and $`\gamma \mathrm{\Delta }`$ and yields to $`\delta _\mathrm{\Phi }\alpha ^{^{\prime \prime }}/\delta _\mathrm{\Phi }\alpha ^{^{}}=0.26`$ which is close to the experimental value. This is a good indication that we are effectively in the regime $`\gamma \omega `$ and $`\gamma \mathrm{\Delta }`$ as confirmed by temperature dependence of the signal.

The first harmonic of $`\delta _\mathrm{\Phi }f/f`$ obeys an exponential decay with a typical temperature scale of 90 mK, independent of illumination (Fig 4). Taking the temperature dependence of the first harmonic to be $`\mathrm{exp}(2L/L_\mathrm{\Phi })`$, like in weak localization , and supposing that all the temperature dependence comes from $`L_\mathrm{\Phi }`$, one has $`L_\mathrm{\Phi }1/T`$. We deduced $`\gamma =1/\tau _\mathrm{\Phi }=D/L_\mathrm{\Phi }^20.8`$ mK at 18 mK. It increases like $`T^2`$, in agreement with theoretical predictions on the broadening of single electron energy levels due to electron-electron interaction in a quantum dot, and remains below $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ up to $`T=180`$ mK. At 50 mK, $`L_\mathrm{\Phi }18\mu `$m which is larger than the coherence length deduced from weak-localization measurements on connected samples($`L_\mathrm{\Phi }6.5\mu `$m at the same temperature). In this latter case one has a 1D geometry and a broadening of the energy levels due to the coupling with reservoirs whereas in an isolated ring the energy spectrum is discrete.

Illumination increases the electronic density in the rings. We start from a situation where the rings are empty or in an electronic localized state. The increase of the signal observed at low illumination corresponds to the repopulation of these depleted rings. The subsequent decay of the signal can be attributed to the increase of the average conductance of the rings and the $`1/g`$ dependence of the magneto-polarizability in the diffusive regime (cf formula 4. $`g`$ is the dimensionless conductance, defined as $`g=E_c/\mathrm{\Delta }`$).

It is instructive to compare these results with previous measurements  on similar array of rings coupled to a multi-mode strip line resonator sensitive to both electric and magnetic response. Similar amplitudes of the flux dependence of the resonance frequency are found in both experiments indicating that the electric part of the response of the rings is at least of the same order of magnitude as the magnetic one. We plan to measure this latter quantity by coupling the rings to the inductive part of the resonator.

To conclude we have measured the flux dependent part of the ac-polarizability of mesoscopic rings down to 18 mK. Both the non-dissipative and dissipative parts of the polarizability exhibit a small correction periodic in flux with a period of half a flux quantum in a ring. The correction of the non-dissipative part is positive in low magnetic field in agreement with theoretical predictions in the GC ensemble in the limit $`\gamma \omega `$. It indicates a better screening of the electric field in the presence of magnetic flux. The correction to the dissipative part is negative for low field, at least for low electronic density. The effect on the polarizability is qualitatively consistent with a $`1/g`$ dependence over the dimensionless conductance $`g`$. These corrections are sensitive to temperature, with a typical scale of 90 mK. It would be interesting to pursue these studies in the low frequency regime.

We thank B. Etienne for the fabrication of the heterojunction and acknowledge fruitful discussions with M. Nardone, L.P. Lévy, L. Malih, A. Mac Farlane, S. Guéron and L. Limot.