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Science 9 October 2009:
Vol. 326. no. 5950, pp. 272 - 275
DOI: 10.1126/science.1178139
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Reports

Persistent Currents in Normal Metal Rings

A. C. Bleszynski-Jayich,1 W. E. Shanks,1 B. Peaudecerf,1 E. Ginossar,1 F. von Oppen,2 L. Glazman,1,3 J. G. E. Harris1,3

Quantum mechanics predicts that the equilibrium state of a resistive metal ring will contain a dissipationless current. This persistent current has been the focus of considerable theoretical and experimental work, but its basic properties remain a topic of controversy. The main experimental challenges in studying persistent currents have been the small signals they produce and their exceptional sensitivity to their environment. We have developed a technique for detecting persistent currents that allows us to measure the persistent current in metal rings over a wide range of temperatures, ring sizes, and magnetic fields. Measurements of both a single ring and arrays of rings agree well with calculations based on a model of non-interacting electrons.

1 Department of Physics, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520, USA.
2 Institut für Theoretische Physik, Freie Universität Berlin, Fachbereich Physik, 14195 Berlin, Germany.
3 Department of Applied Physics, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520, USA.

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Sensing a Small But Persistent Current.
N. O. Birge (2009)
Science 326, 244-245
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