HYPERFINE-INTERACTION-DRIVEN AHARONOV-BOHM EFFECT IN MESOSCOPIC RINGS

It is shown qualitatively that lifting of the electron spin degeneracy by a hyperfine field, which is generated by a nonequilibrium nuclear spin distribution, and breaking of the left-right symmetry by the spin -orbit interaction in a closed ring produces under certain conditions a persistent current, which demonstrates the Aharonov-Bohm-like oscill ations with time in GaAs/AlGaAs-based mesoscopic rings even in the abs ence of an external magnetic field. The typical time interval of these (meso-nucleospinic) oscillations is of the order of several seconds, which is typical of the nuclear spin relaxation times in heterojunctio ns. (C) 1997 American Institute of Physics. [S1063-777X(97)00712-3].