Snaking states on a cylindrical surface in a perpendicular magnetic field

• Published in: The European Physical Journal B
• Main Authors: Manolescu, Andrei, Rosdahl, Tomas Orn, Erlingsson, Sigurdur I., Serra, Llorenç, Gudmundsson, Vidar
• Other Authors: University of Iceland, Icelandic Centre for Research, Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (España)
• Format: Report
• Language: unknown
• Published: Springer 2013
• Subjects: Iceland
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10261/116418; https://doi.org/10.1140/epjb/e2013-40735-5; https://doi.org/10.13039/501100001840; https://doi.org/10.13039/501100003329

arXiv:1305.5577 We calculate electronic states on a closed cylindrical surface as a model of a core-shell nanowire. The length of the cylinder can be infinite or finite. We define cardinal points on the circumference of the cylinder and consider a spatially uniform magnetic field perpendicular to the cylinder axis, in the direction South-North. The orbital motion of the electrons depends on the radial component of the field which is nonuniform around the circumference: it is equal to the total field at North and South, but vanishes at the West and East sides. For a strong field, when the magnetic length is comparable to the radius of the cylinder, the electronic states at North and South become localized cyclotron orbits, whereas at East and West the states become long and narrow snaking orbits propagating along the cylinder. The energy of the cyclotron states increases with the magnetic field whereas the energy of the snaking states is stable. Consequently, at high magnetic fields the electron density vanishes at North and South and concentrates at East and West. We include spin-orbit interaction with linear Rashba and Dresselhaus models. For a cylinder of finite length the Dresselhaus interaction produces an axial twist of the charge density relative to the center of the wire, which may be amplified in the presence of the Rashba interaction.© EDP Sciences Società Italiana di Fisica Springer-Verlag 2013. This work was supported by the Research Fund of the University of Iceland, the Icelandic Research Fund, and by Grant FIS2011-23526 (MINECO). No