Theoretical prediction of a giant anisotropic magnetoresistance in carbon nanoscrolls

Abstract

Snake orbits are trajectories of charge carriers curving back and forth which form at an interface where either the magnetic field direction or the charge carrier type are inverted. In ballistic samples their presence is manifested in the appearance of magnetoconductance oscillations at small magnetic fields. Here we show that signatures of snake orbits can also be found in the opposite diffusive transport regime. We illustrate this by studying the classical magnetotransport properties of carbon tubular structures subject to relatively weak transversal magnetic fields where snake trajectories appear in close proximity to the zero radial field projections. In carbon nanoscrolls the formation of snake orbits leads to a strongly directional dependent positive magnetoresistance with an anisotropy up to 80%.