Abstract

Electron transport properties of quantum wires in the presence of a periodically modulated magnetic field are investigated. For a short modulated wire, we find dips in conductance just below each mode threshold. The conductance dips are quite robust at low temperature. Increasing the number of periods of magnetic modulation can lead to the formation of minibands and gaps. The differences between the one dimensional (1D) electric superlattice and 1D magnetic superlattice are discussed. We also consider the spatial distributions of currents, which show dramatic differences between the magnetic superlattices and electric ones.