Persistent currents in nanorings and quantum decoherence by Coulomb interaction

Andrew G. Semenov, Andrei D. Zaikin

Published 2009-06-15, updated 2009-10-13Version 2

Employing instanton technique we evaluate equilibrium persistent current (PC) produced by a quantum particle moving in a periodic potential on a ring and interacting with a dissipative environment formed by diffusive electron gas. The model allows for detailed non-perturbative analysis of interaction effects and -- depending on the system parameters -- yields a rich structure of different regimes. We demonstrate that at low temperatures PC is exponentially suppressed at sufficiently large ring perimeters $2\pi R> L_{\varphi}$ where the dephasing length $L_{\varphi}$ is set by interactions and does not depend on temperature. This behavior represents a clear example of quantum decoherence by electron-electron interactions at $T\to 0$.