EXCITONIC MECHANISM OF AHARONOV-CASHER OSCILLATIONS

We propose the realization of the Aharonov-Casher (AC) effect in a mes oscopic semiconductor ring. We find that the thermodynamic characteris tics of the excitonic gas in the semiconductor ring are periodic in th e AC flux F through it with a period F0 = hc/2mu(B)g, where mu(B) is t he Bohr magneton and g is the g-factor. The amplitude of oscillations passes through a maximum at the temperature T similar-to DELTA (DELTA is the typical energy of excitons). Outside this region it decreases e ither exponentially (if T much-less-than DELTA), or according to a pow er law (if T greater than or similar to DELTA),