Quantum interference of electrons in multiwall carbon nanotubes

Abstract

In magnetoresistance measurements of a single multiwall carbon nanotube we have observed the periodic oscillation which increases in amplitude below 30 K. The period has the angular dependence of $1/\mathrm{cos}\ensuremath{\theta},$ $\ensuremath{\theta}$ being the angle between the nanotube axis and magnetic field, and it corresponds to the field that the magnetic flux penetrating a nanotube equals one-third of a flux quanta, $h/3e.$ The observation is explained in terms of the Aharonov-Bohm effect for three coexisting nanotubes with different chiralities.