Magneto-transport in corrugated quantum wires

We study the low-temperature magneto-resistance of split-gate corrugated wires, in which the application of a suitable gate voltage leads to the formation of an array of coupled dots. At magnetic fields where the cyclotron orbit is comparable to the size of the individual dots, a series of striking peaks is observed in the magneto-resistance. A simple geometric analysis suggests that the peaks arise from a commensurate focusing effect, involving only backscattered orbits within the array. This result is consistent with the behavior found in studies of individual quantum dots, in which the connection between conductance and backscattered orbits has recently been emphasized.