Aharonov-bohm interference and beating in single-walled carbon-nanotube interferometers

Relatively low magnetic fields applied parallel to the axis of a chiral single-walled carbon nanotube are found causing large modulations to the p channel or valence band conductance of the nanotube in the Fabry-Perot interference regime. Beating in the Aharonov-Bohm type of interference between two field-induced nondegenerate subbands of spiraling electrons is responsible for the observed modulation with a pseudoperiod much smaller than that needed to reach the flux quantum Phi(0)=h/e through the nanotube cross section. We show that single-walled nanotubes represent the smallest cylinders exhibiting the Aharonov-Bohm effect with rich interference and beating phenomena arising from well-defined molecular orbitals reflective of the nanotube chirality.