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1298324 
Journal Article 
Direct observation of the Aharonov-Casher phase 
König, M; Tschetschetkin, A; Hankiewicz, EM; Sinova, J; Hock, V; Daumer, V; Schäfer, M; Becker, CR; Buhmann, H; Molenkamp, LW 
2006 
1 
Physical Review Letters
ISSN: 0031-9007
EISSN: 1079-7114 
96 
7 
076804 
English 
16606124 
Ring structures fabricated from HgTe/HgCdTe quantum wells have been used to study Aharonov-Bohm type conductance oscillations as a function of Rashba spin-orbit splitting strength. We observe nonmonotonic phase changes indicating that an additional phase factor modifies the electron wave function. We associate these observations with the Aharonov-Casher effect. This is confirmed by comparison with numerical calculations of the magnetoconductance for a multichannel ring structure within the Landauer-Büttiker formalism.