Solid-state Aharonov-Bohm effect at dislocations in semiconductors

Abstract

We have found that misfit dislocations generated in lattice-mismatched GaAs- Sb /GaAs heterostructures give rise to low-temperature magneto1 x x conductance oscillations periodic in magnetic field. The period of the oscillations varies with the angle between the magnetic field direction and the dislocation axes. We ascribe these oscillations to the trapping of free charge carriers on localized orbits encircling charged dislocations. These quasistationary orbits are formed cyclically whenever the magnetic flux enclosed inside the Read cylinder of the dislocation is changed by one flux unit h / e .