Topology-driven effects in advanced micro- and nanoarchitectures

Abstract

An overview is given about some of topological effects, owing to special geometries in real space, implemented by the high-tech self-organization techniques to fabricate micro- and nanoarchitectures. Self-assembled quantum volcanos, which are singly connected, surprisingly exhibit the Aharonov–Bohm behavior in experiment. This is explained by the fact that in a quantum volcano the electron wave functions are identical to the electron wave functions in a quantum ring from a topological point of view. Combination of a geometric potential and an inhomogeneous twist renders an observation of the topology-driven effects in the electron ground-state energy in Möbius rings at the microscale into the area of experimental verification. In inhomogeneous Möbius rings, a “Delocalization-to-localization” transition is found for the electron ground state. Advances in the high-tech roll-up fabrication methods have provided qualitatively novel curved superconductor micro- and nanoarchitectures, e.g., nanostructured microtubes, microhelices and their arrays. Vortex dynamics in open superconductor microtubes in the presence of a transport current are influenced by the interplay between the scalar potential and the inhomogeneous magnetic field component, which is normal to the surface. The rolled-up conical-shaped asymmetric microcavities provide a background to realize the spin–orbit interaction of light for the analysis of topological effects in the course of a non-Abelian evolution. Robustness of the topologically induced geometric phase of light opens novel ways of manipulating photons and thus implies promising perspectives of applications in on-chip quantum devices.