We prove that a tight-binding ladder network composed of atomic sites with on-site potentials distributed according to the quasiperiodic Aubry model can exhibit a metal-insulator transition at multiple values of the Fermi energy. For specific values of the first and second neighbor electron hopping, the result is obtained exactly. With a more general model, we numerically calculate the two-terminal conductance. The numerical results corroborate the analytical findings.

We investigate the possibilities of a tight binding ladder network as a mesoscopic switching device. Several cases have been discussed in which any one or both the arms of the ladder can assume random, ordered or quasiperiodic distribution of atomic potentials. We show that, for a special choice of the Hamiltonian parameters it is possible to prove exactly the existence of mobility edges in such a system, which plays a central role in the switching action. We also present numerical results for the two-terminal conductance of a general model of a quasiperiodically grown ladder which support the general features of the electron states in such a network. The analysis might be helpful in fabricating mesoscopic or DNA switching devices.

Electronic transport in a one-dimensional mesoscopic ring threaded by a magnetic flux is studied in presence of Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit interactions. A completely analytical technique within a tight-binding formalism unveils the spin-split bands in presence of the spin-orbit interactions and leads to a method of determining the strength of the Dresselhaus interaction. In addition to this, the persistent currents for ordered and disordered rings have been investigated numerically. It is observed that, the presence of the spin-orbit interaction, in general, leads to an enhanced amplitude of the persistent current. Numerical results corroborate the respective analytical findings.

Determination of Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit interaction strengths in a particular sample remains a challenge even today. In this article we investigate the possibilities of measuring the absolute values of these interaction strengths by calculating persistent charge and spin currents in a mesoscopic ring. Our numerical results can be verified experimentally.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figure

The Hubbard model on a Sierpinski gasket fractal is carefully examined within a Hartree-Fock mean field approach. We examine the influence of a magnetic flux threading the gasket on its ground state energy, persistent current and the Drude weight. Both an isotropic gasket and its anisotropic counterpart have been examined. The variance in the patterns of the calculated physical quantities are discussed for two situations, viz, at half-filling and when the 'band' is less than half-filled. The phase reversal of the persistent currents and the change of the Drude weight as a function of the Hubbard interaction are found to exhibit interesting patterns that have so far remained unaddressed.