Temperature enhanced persistent currents and "$\phi_0/2$ periodicity"

Abstract

We predict a non-monotonous temperature dependence of the persistent currents in a ballistic ring coupled strongly to a stub in the grand canonical as well as in the canonical case. We also show that such a non-monotonous temperature dependence can naturally lead to a $\phi_0/2$ periodicity of the persistent currents, where $\phi_0$=h/e. There is a crossover temperature $T^*$, below which persistent currents increase in amplitude with temperature while they decrease above this temperature. This is in contrast to persistent currents in rings being monotonously affected by temperature. $T^*$ is parameter-dependent but of the order of $\Delta_u/\pi^2k_B$, where $\Delta_u$ is the level spacing of the isolated ring. For the grand-canonical case $T^*$ is half of that for the canonical case.