RESUMO
We have fabricated large arrays of mesoscopic metal rings on ultrasensitive cantilevers. The arrays are defined by electron beam lithography and contain up to 10(5) rings. The rings have a circumference of 1 µm, and are made of ultrapure (6N) Au that is deposited onto a silicon-on-insulator wafer without an adhesion layer. Subsequent processing of the SOI wafer results in each array being supported at the end of a free-standing cantilever. To accommodate the large arrays while maintaining a low spring constant, the cantilevers are nearly 1 mm in both lateral dimensions and 100 nm thick. The extreme aspect ratio of the cantilevers, the large array size, and the absence of a sticking layer are intended to enable measurements of the rings' average persistent current ⟨I⟩ in the presence of relatively small magnetic fields. We describe the motivation for these measurements, the fabrication of the devices, and the characterization of the cantilevers' mechanical properties. We also discuss the devices' expected performance in measurements of ⟨I⟩.
RESUMO
We have measured the persistent current in individual normal metal rings over a wide range of magnetic fields. From this data, we extract the first six cumulants of the single-ring persistent current distribution. Our results are consistent with the prediction that this distribution should be nearly Gaussian for diffusive metallic rings. This measurement highlights the sensitivity of persistent current to the mesoscopic fluctuations within a single isolated coherent volume.
