Quantum transport in nanostructures

This work is devoted to the design, fabrication and magnetotransport investigations of mesoscopic devices. The sample are obtain by e-beam lithography and the measurements are performed at low temperature in a dilution refrigerator in the presence of a magnetic field. We have used MBE grown AlGaAs/GaAs heterojonctions as starting material to fabricate a bipartite tiling of rhombus called T-3 lattice. We observe for the first time large amplitude h/e oscillations in this network as compared to the one measured in square lattices of similar size. These oscillations are the signature of a recently predited localization phenomenon induced by Aharonov-Bohm interferences on this peculiar topology. For particular values of the magnetic field the propagation of the electron wave function is bounded in a small number of cells, called Aharonov-Bohm cages. More strikingly, at high magnetic field, h/2e oscillations appear whose amplitude can be much higher than the fundamental period. Their temperature dependence is similar to that of the h/e signal. These observations withdraw a simple interpretation in terms of harmonics generation. The origin of this phenomenon is still unclear and needs more investigations. The influence electrical width of the wire defining the network and so the rule of the number of channels can be studied using a gate deposited over the lattice. In particular we have measured the amplitude dependence of the h/e and h/2e signal versus the gate voltage.