THERMODYNAMIC METHOD OF DETECTING LUTTINGER-LIQUID BEHAVIOR IN A ONE-DIMENSIONAL RING OF ELECTRONS

We propose a method to detect a Luttinger liquid (LL)-like behavior of a quasi-one-dimensional ring of electrons that does not depend on a t ransport measurement. Rather, a Coulomb blockade-induced quantization of the persistent current and excess charge in a ring of interacting e lectrons are shown to depend on the interaction strength. Both the ave rage ring charge and the persistent current are step-like functions of an applied gate voltage at low temperatures. The step positions are d etermined by the LL parameter alpha, which therefore can be directly m easured.