Imaging electron wave functions inside open quantum rings

Phys Rev Lett. 2007 Sep 28;99(13):136807. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.99.136807. Epub 2007 Sep 28.

Abstract

Combining scanning gate microscopy (SGM) experiments and simulations, we demonstrate low temperature imaging of the electron probability density |Psi|(2)(x,y) in embedded mesoscopic quantum rings. The tip-induced conductance modulations share the same temperature dependence as the Aharonov-Bohm effect, indicating that they originate from electron wave function interferences. Simulations of both |Psi|(2)(x,y) and SGM conductance maps reproduce the main experimental observations and link fringes in SGM images to |Psi|(2)(x,y).